PRESENTED  TO  THE  LIBRARY 


OF 


PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

BY 


JVLps.  Alexander  Ppoudfit. 


f 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/mohammedanmissio00jess_0 


V MAP  lo iUiiHii.i!<-  ISLAM 


THE 


MOHAMMEDAN 

MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


BY  THE 

Rev.  HENRY  H.  JESSUP,  D.D., 

Fob  Twenty-four  Years  Missionary  in  Syp.ia. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

No.  1331  CHESTNUT  STREET. 


Copyright,  1879,  by 
THE  TRUSTEES  OP  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOAED  OF  PUBLICATION. 


Westcott  & Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers,  Philada . 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


A discourse  on  “ The  Mohammedan  Mis- 
sionary Problem,”  delivered  before  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  the  United  States,  meeting  at  Saratoga 
Springs  May  18,  1879,  by  the  Moderator, 
the  Rev.  Henry  H.  Jessup,  D.  D.,  of 
Beirut,  Syria,  attracted  general  attention, 
and  awakened  a desire  on  the  part  of 
many  to  have  it  in  print.  In  compliance 
with  this  demand,  and  at  the  request  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication,  Dr. 
Jessup  has  rewritten  and  enlarged  the  dis- 
course, and  the  result  is  here  given  to  the 
jiublic. 


PREFACE. 


This  little  treatise  does  not  profess  to  be 
an  exhaustive  statement  of  the  relations  of 
Islam  and  Christianity.  It  is  a mere  out- 
line. It  is  published  in  deference  to  the 
earnest  request  of  friends  who  have  thought 
it  worth  preserving  in  a permanent  form. 

The  map  accompanying  this  volume  is 
taken  from  that  printed  in  Stobart’s  Islam, 
published  by  the  Christian  Knowledge  So- 
ciety. The  green  shading  has  been  ex- 
tended over  parts  of  China  not  marked  in 
the  original,  to  indicate  the  existence  of 
four  millions  of  Moslems  in  that  empire. 
This  is  the  only  correction  made  in  this 
map,  for  which  I would  express  very  great 
obligations  to  Principal  Stobart. 


6 


PREFACE. 


The  Arabic  pronunciation  of  the  name 
of  the  founder  of  Islam  requires  that  the 
English  word  be  written  Muhammad,  but 
I have  followed  the  ordinary  spelling,  Mo- 
hammed. It  is  unfortunate  that  Stobart, 
following  Irving,  should  have  adopted  a 
form  of  the  name  so  utterly  wrong  as 
“ Mahomet,” 

The  number  of  Mohammedans  in  the 
world  is  given  in  this  work  as  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  millions.  Mr.  Keith 
Johnston  estimates  it  as  follows : 

In  Europe 5,974,000 

In  Africa 50,416,000 

In  Asia 112,739,000 

Total ..169,129,000 

It  does  not  probably  vary  far  from  one 
hundred  and  seventy  or  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  millions. 

Inquiry  is  often  made  for  the  best  books 
on  Mohammedanism.  The  following  is  a 
list  of  the  more  important : 


PREFACE. 


7 


1.  Introductory  Essay  of  Sale’s  Koran: 
Lippincott. 

2.  The  Preface  and  Notes  of  Rodwell’s 
Koran:  Williams  & Norgate,  London. 

3.  Sir  William  Muir’s  Life  of  Mohammed : 
London. 

4.  Stobart’s  Islam  and  its  Founder:  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  Society. 

5.  Dr.  Sprenger’s  Life  of  Mohammed: 
Allahabad,  1851. 

6.  Dr.  Pfander’s  Mezan  el  Hoc : Church 
Missionary  Society,  London. 

7.  Irving’s  Life  of  Mahomet. 

8.  Lane’s  Modern  Egyptians. 

9.  P.  Boswortli  Smith’s  Mohammed  and 
Mohammedanism : Harpers. 

10.  Rev.  T.  P.  Hughes’s  Notes  on  Mo- 
hammedanism. 

11.  Osborn’s  Islam  under  the  Arabs: 
Longmans,  Green  & Co. 

12.  The  Coran,  Sir  William  Muir : Chris- 
tian Knowledge  Society. 


PREFACE. 


13.  Dr.  Hamlin’s  Among  the  Turks : 
Robert  Carter  & Brother. 

14.  Burton's  Pilgrimage  to  El  Medinah 
and  Mecca : Putnam  & Co. 

15.  Clark’s  The  Arabs  and  the  Turks: 
Dockl  & Mead. 

16.  Rev.  T.  Milner’s  Turkish  Empire : 
Religious  Tract  Society,  London. 

17.  Report  of  Conference  on  Foreign  Mis- 
sions,, Mildmay,  1878.  J.  F.  Sliaw  & Co., 
London. 

18.  The  Trident,  the  Crescent  and  the 
Cross,  Vaughan.  Longmans,  London. 

19.  Islam  and  Christianity,  J.  M.  Arnold. 
Longmans. 

20.  Christianity  and  Islam,  Stephens. 

See  also  the  list  of  authorities  in  the 

preface  to  Boswortli  Smith’s  Mohammed. 

The  works  of  Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Balm- 
dor  and  Syed  Ameer  Ali  are  an  attempt  at 
a refutation  of  Sir  William  Muir’s  indict- 
ment of  Mohammedanism,  written  by  Mos- 
lems. There  is  a great  assumption  of  learn- 


PREFACE. 


9 


ing  and  a sophistical  defence  of  the  Koranic 
teachings  with  regard  to  slavery,  polygamy, 
divorce  and  the  degradation  of  woman. 

The  multiplication  of  books  on  this  sub- 
ject shows  its  growing  importance. 

It  is  our  earnest  hope  and  prayer  that  this 
revival  of  interest  in  the  historical,  theolog- 
ical and  ethical  bearings  of  Islamism  may 
result  in  a new  practical  interest  in  the  spir- 
itual welfare  of  the  Mohammedan  nations. 
It  is  high  time  for  the  Christian  Church 
to  ask  seriously  the  question  whether  the 
last  command  of  Christ,  “ Preach  the  gos- 
pel to  every  creature,”  concerns  the  one 
hundred  and  seventy-five  millions  of  the 
Mohammedan  world. 


HENRY  H.  JESSUP. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.  D. 

570.  Birth  of  Mohammed,  at  Mecca. 

590.  Gregory  I.  becomes  bishop  of  Borne. 

597.  Mission  to  the  Saxons  in  Britain. 

609.  Mohammed  proclaims  his  pretensions. 

622.  The  Hejra,  or  flight  of  Mohammed  from  Mecca  to 
Medina. 

632.  Death  of  Mohammed. 

632.  Abu  Bekir,  first  caliph  or  successor  of  Mohammed. 

636.  Capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  caliph  Omar. 

640.  Capture  of  Alexandria  by  Omar. 

711.  Tharyk  crosses  the  straits  from  Africa  to  Europe,  and 
calls  the  mountain  Jebel  Tharyk  (Gibraltar). 

732.  Battle  of  Tours ; Abd-er-Bahman  defeated  by  Charles 
Martel ; Western  Europe  saved  from  becoming  Mos- 
lem. 

786.  Haroun  er-Bashid,  caliph  of  Baghdad. 

1063.  Alp  Arslan,  Seljukian  Turkish  prince. 

I oil!?  Beign  of  Othman,  founder  of  the  Ottoman  dynasty. 

1326.  ° ’ J J 

1452.  Perfection  of  art  of  printing  in  Mentz  by  Guttenburg, 
Faust  and  Schceffer. 

10 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


11 


1453.  Capture  of  Constantinople  by  Mohammed  II. ; exodus 
of  Greek  scholars  to  Southern  Europe. 

1492.  Discovery  of  America  by  Columbus. 

1492,  July  2.  Boabdil  (or  Abou  Abdallah)  defeated  by  Fer- 
dinand at  Granada  ; end  of  Moslem  rule  in  Spain. 

1517.  Ottoman  sultan  Selim  I.  conquers  Egypt,  wrests  the 
caliphate  from  the  Arab  line  of  Koreish  through 
Motawekkel  Billah,  and  transfers  it  to  the  Ottoman 
sultans ; Ottoman  caliphate  never  acknowledged  by 
Persian  or  Moorish  Moslems. 

1683.  Final  check  of  Turks  at  gates  of  Vienna  by  John 
Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  Sept.  12;  Eastern  Europe 
saved  from  Moslem  rule. 

1856.  End  of  Crimean  War;  Treaty  of  Paris;  European 
agreement  not  to  interfere  in  domestic  affairs  of 
Turkey. 

1878.  Treaty  of  Berlin;  independence  of  Bulgaria  secured; 
Anglo-Turkish  Treaty ; England  occupies  Cyprus — 
agrees  to  defend  the  frontier  of  Asiatic  Turkey 
against  Russia,  on  condition  that  the  sultan  exe- 
cute fundamental  reforms  in  Asiatic  Turkey. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  ISLAM  COMPARED 


The  Aggressive 
Command. 


The  Motto. 


The  Treatment 
of  Enemies. 


“ Go  ye  into  all  tlie  world,  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.”  Mark  xvi.  15. 

“Fight  thou  against  them  until  they 
pay  tribute  by  right  of  subjection,  and 
they  he  reduced  low.”  Koran,  chap.  ix. 
29. 


“ There  is  one  God  and  one  Mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  man  Christ 
Jesus.”  1 Tim.  ii.  5. 

“ There  is  no  God  hut  God,  and  Mo- 
_ hammed  is  his  apostle.” 

“ Love  your  enemies.”  Matt.  v.  44. 

“ O Lord  of  all  creatures ! O Allah ! 
destroy  the  infidels  and  polytheists,  thine 
enemies,  the  enemies  of  the  religion! 
Give  them  and  their  families,  their 
women,  their  children,  etc.,  as  booty  to 
the  Moslems,  O Lord  of  all  creatures!” 
_ — Mohammedan  Missionary  Prayer. 


12 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 
MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


T tlie  beginning  of  tlie  seventh  century 


there  occurred  two  events  of  momentous 
importance.  Though  geographically  remote 
from  each  other,  and  not  often  associated  in 
the  mind  of  the  Christian  student,  they  were 
providentially  related  in  the  most  intimate 
manner,  as  bearing  upon  the  welfare  of  the 
race  and  the  future  development  of  Christ’s 
kingdom  in  the  world. 

One  was  the  rise  of  the  Mohammedan  re- 
lio-ion — the  other  the  Christianization  of  the 

o 

Saxon  race  in  Britain. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  writer  in  the 
following  pages  to  show  the  evident  plan  and 
providence  of  God  in  the  past,  present  and 


13 


14 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


future  relations  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Chris- 
tian race  to  the  Mohammedan  world. 

God  has  been  preparing  Christianity  for 
Islam ; he  is  now  preparing  Islam  for 
Christianity.  The  Roman  power  and  the 
Greek  language  prepared  the  way  for  the 
coming  of  Christ  and  the  giving  of  the  gos- 
pel to  the  world.  Anglo-Saxon  power  and 
the  Arabic  language,  the  sacred  language  of 
the  Koran,  are  preparing  the  way  for  giving 
the  word  of  Christ,  and  Christ  the  Word,  to 
the  millions  of  the  Mohammedan  world. 

The  Mohammedan  religion  arose,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  as  a scourge  to  the  idol- 
atrous Christianity  and  the  pagan  systems 
of  Asia  and  Africa — a protest  against  poly- 
theism, and  a preparation  for  the  future  con- 
version to  a pure  Christianity  of  the  multi- 
tude who  have  fallen  under  its  extraordinary 
power. 

The  religion  of  Islam  has  been  styled  the 
“ quarantine  of  the  nations,”  and  in  the  ap- 
prehension of  Christian  faith  it  must  be  re- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


15 


garded  as  a step  in  advance  of  all  pagan 
systems,  and  yet  falling  far  short  of  the 
morality  and  spirituality  of  the  gospel,  and 
destitute  of  any  provision  for  human  re- 
demption. 

When  Gibbon  declared  that  the  Islamic 
motto,  “ There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mo- 
hammed is  his  apostle,”  asserts  an  “eternal 
truth  and  an  eternal  lie,”  he  truly  expressed 
its  duplex  and  inconsistent  character. 

Mohammed  unfurled  his  standard  in  622 
a.  d.,  when  he  fled  from  Mecca  to  El  Medina 
(“the  city”).  This  Hejra,  or  “flight,”  is 
the  beginning  of  the  Mohammedan  era. 
The  religion  of  Islam  spread  rapidly  over 
Arabia,  and  thence  northward  over  Palestine 
and  Syria.  Ivhaled,  the  “ Sword  of  God,” 
captured  the  cities  and  towns  of  Syria ; ten 
thousand  Christian  churches  were  either 
destroyed  or  converted  into  Mohammedan 
mosques.  The  cities  of  Syria  and  Palestine 
to-day  are  filled  with  mosques  whose  archi- 
tecture betrays  their  Christian  origin.  The 


16 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


splendid  mosque  of  Amweli,  in  Damascus, 
was  the  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist ; 
the  mosque  of  Aksa  in  Jerusalem  was  the 
church  of  J ustinian ; and  the  world-re- 
nowned mosque  of  Constantinople  was  the 
church  of  Agia  Sophia. 

Sweeping  into  Africa,  the  scimitar  of  the 
Moslems  carried  the  Koran  into  Egypt,  far 
up  the  Nile,  across  Northern  Africa  to  Tunis, 
Algiers  and  Morocco ; and  in  711  a.  d.  the 
Mohammedan  general  Tliaryk  crossed  the 
Straits  into  Europe,  and  called  the  great 
rock  on  the  northern  side,  from  his  own 
name,  Jebel  Tliaryk,  “mountain  of  Tliaryk,” 
now  called,  by  a corruption  of  the  Arabic 
words,  Gibraltar. 

In  twenty-one  years  the  Moslems  had 
subjugated  Spain,  but  in  732  their  progress 
into  France  was  checked  by  Charles  Martel, 
who  in  the  battle  of  Poictiers  defeated  the 
invading  army  and  saved  Western  Europe 
from  becoming  a Mohammedan  province. 
The  history  of  the  Arabs  in  Spain  is  too 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


17 


familiar  to  need  more  than  a mere  allusion, 
but  it  is  a significant  coincidence  in  history 
that  in  the  year  1492 — the  very  year  in 
which  Columbus  discovered  America,  and 
thus  opened  a new  field  for  the  growth  and 
development  of  that  christianized  Anglo-Sax- 
on race  which  wTas  destined  to  wield  so  mighty 
an  influence  upon  the  future  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan nations — Ferdinand  overthrew  the 
last  Spanish  Mohammedan  army  at  the  gates 
of  Granada,  and  the  Moslems  were  driven 
back  into  Africa.  In  the  following  century 
it  was  a common  proverb  in  Spain,  “As  hard 
to  find  as  Mohammed  in  Spain,”  showing 
that  the  Moslem  occupation  of  more  than 
seven  hundred  years  in  Spain  was  at  an  end 
for  ever.  Turning  northward  from  Arabia, 
the  political  and  literary  power  of  Islam 
reached  its  highest  glory  in  Baghdad  under 
the  Caliphs.  This  was  the  golden  age  of 
Arabic  literature.  The  Caliphs  used  their 
wealth  and  power  in  translating  into  Arabic 
the  best  classics  of  Greece.  Translations  of 


2 


18 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Plato,  Aristotle,  Hippocrates  and  Euclid  and 
other  authors  into  Arabic  found  their  way 
down  the  Mediterranean  iuto  Spain  and 
France;  and  there  are  in  the  University 
Library  of  Paris  more  ancient  Arabic 
manuscripts  than  can  be  found  in  the 
whole  Turkish  empire. 

The  armies  of  the  Prophet  by  rapid  con- 
quests subdued  in  turn  Persia  and  Afghan- 
istan, aud  overran  a large  part  of  India. 
Thence  they  moved  on  through  Central 
Asia  into  China ; and  to-day  there  are  four 
millions  of  Moslems  in  China,  of  whom  two 
hundred  thousand  live  in  Peking,  the  capital 
of  the  Flowery  Kingdom. 

A new  factor  now  appeared  in  history. 
The  Tartar  Turks,  a pagan  race  from  Cen- 
tral Asia,  conquered  the  empire  of  the  Arab 
caliphs,  and  were  conquered  by  its  religion ; 
they  became  Mohammedans.  Then  began 
the  struggle  between  the  rising  Ottoman 
power  and  the  tottering  empire  of  the 
Greeks.  Step  by  step,  the  Turks  pushed 


MISSIONAB  Y PR  OB  LEM. 


19 


the  Greeks  to  the  westward,  and  in  the  year 
1453,  Mohammed  II.  unfurled  the  standard 
of  the  Prophet  on  the  towers  of  Constantino- 
ple. In  the  previous  year  (1452)  the  art  of 
printing  was  perfected  by  Guttenburg,  Faust 
and  Schoeffer,  preparing  the  way  for  the  re- 
vival of  letters.  The  capture  of  Constanti- 
nople in  1453  threw  the  Greek  scholars  of 
the  East  into  a panic  at  the  advance  of  the 
infidel  host,  and  not  a few  of  them  fled  to 
Southern  Europe,  bearing  with  them  the 
Greek  language,  Greek  literature  and  the 
Greek  New  Testament.  Many  were  appoint- 
ed professors  in  the  universities  of  Italy  and 
Southern  Europe,  and  thus  awakened  an  in- 
terest in  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  prepared 
the  way  for  the  development  of  Bible  study 
and  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
into  the  languages  of  Europe  in  the  time 
of  the  Reformation. 

The  Mohammedan  Turkish  power  now 
attempted  the  conquest  of  Europe  from  the 
East,  as  the  Mohammedan  Moorish  power 


20 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


had  tried  it  from  the  West.  It  was  not  un- 
til the  year  1683  that  the  Turks  were  finally 
defeated  on  the  12th  of  September  at  the 
gates  of  Vienna  by  Sobieski,  and  the  Mos- 
lems were  driven  back  across  the  Danube. 

In  the  year  1878,  by  the  terms  of  the 
Treaty  of  Berlin,  and  as  the  result  of  the 
Busso-Turkish  war,  the  Turkish  territory 
in  Europe  was  narrowed  down  to  a mere 
belt  extending  across  from  the  Black  Sea  to 
the  Adriatic,  including  East  Boumelia  (or 
Southern  Bulgaria),  Macedonia,  Thessaly 
and  Albania. 

The  caliphate,  or  succession  of  Moham- 
med, belongs  legally  to  the  Arab  family  of 
Koreish,  the  family  of  the  Prophet.  In 
1517  the  Turkish  sultan,  Selim  I.,  conquered 
Syria  and  Egypt,  and  brought  with  him  to 
Constantinople  Motawekkel  Billah,  the  last 
titular  caliph  of  the  family  of  Abbas.  From 
this  descendant  of  Daliir  Billah,  the  thirty- 
fifth  caliph  of  Baghdad,  Selim  “procured  the 
cession  of  his  claims,  and  obtained  the  right 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


21 


to  deem  himself  the  shadow  of  God  upon 
earth.  Since  then  the  Ottoman  padishah 
has  been  held  to  inherit  the  rights  of  Omar 
and  Haroun,  and  to  be  the  legitimate  com- 
mander of  the  Faithful,  and,  as  such,  pos- 
sessed of  plenary  temporal  and  spiritual  au- 
thority over  the  followers  of  Mohammed.”* 
The  Persians  and  Moors,  however,  reject 
this  claim,  and  at  the  close  of  the  Russian 
war  not  a few  even  of  the  Arab  muftis  de- 
clared that  the  caliphate  had  been  forfeited 
by  the  inglorious  defeat  of  the  Turks,  and 
should  now  return  to  the  Arab  family  of 
Koreish. 

The  above  is  a brief  epitome  of  the  rise 
and  geographical  extension  of  the  religion 
of  Islam.  It  now  extends  from  the  Pacific 
Ocean  at  Peking  to  the  Atlantic  in  Sierra 
Leone,  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  de- 
grees of  longitude,  embracing  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  millions  of  followers.  Its 

* Freeman : The  Saracens,  p.  158. 


22 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


votaries  are  diverse  in  language,  nationality 
and  customs,  embracing  the  more  civilized 
inhabitants  of  Cairo,  Damascus  and  Con- 
stantinople, as  well  as  the  wild  nomad  tribes 
of  Arabia,  Turkestan  and  the  Sahara. 

The  evangelization  of  these  vast,  organ- 
ized, fanatical  and  widely-extended  masses 
of  men  is  one  of  the  grandest  and  most 
inspiring  problems  ever  brought  before  the 
Church  of  Christ  on  earth.  It  is  a work 
of  surpassing  difficulty,  which  will  require 
a new  baptism  of  apostolic  wisdom  and 
energy,  faith  and  love. 

But  He  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
with  whom  “ a thousand  years  are  as  one 
day,”  will  prepare  the  way  in  his  own  wise 
and  gracious  time.  lie  is  already  prepar- 
ing the  way ; and  it  is  our  purpose  to  notice 
the  remarkable  interposition  of  the  divine 
providence  in  raising  up  in  the  two  great 
branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Christian  fam- 
ily, in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
of  America,  the  political,  religious  and  ed- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


23 


ucational  means  and  appliances  which  are 
tending  to  bring  the  Mohammedan  world 
to  Christ. 

We  shall  thus  see  how  the  Christianization 
of  the  Saxon  race  in  Britain  just  at  the  time 
when  the  Mohammedan  religion  arose  in  the 
East  was  a divine  plan,  the  remedy  provided 
for  the  growing  moral  disorder,  the  “ rod 
blossoming”  for  future  displays  of  the  di- 
vine power  as  well  as  the  divine  love  to 
man. 

This  great  Mohammedan  problem  lying 
before  the  Church  of  Christ  in  the  imme- 
diate future,  connected  with  its  fulfillment 
of  the  great  missionary  commission  of  its 
divine  Head  for  the  world’s  salvation,  will 
tax  the  intellect,  the  faith,  the  wisdom,  the 
zeal  and  the  self-denial  of  the  whole  Church 
in  every  land. 

How  are  we  to  reach  the  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five  millions  of  Mohammedans 
spread  over  one  hundred  and  twenty  degrees 
of  longitude,  from  the  Pacific  in  China  to 


24 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


the  Atlantic  in  Sierra  Leone,  embracing  vast 
nations  speaking  thirty  different  languages, 
with  diverse  climates,  customs  and  traditions, 
yet  unified  and  compacted  by  a common  faith 
which  has  survived  the  shocks  and  conflicts 
of  twelve  hundred  years? 

This  problem  is  even  now  pressing  itself 
as  never  before  upon  the  attention  of  Chris- 
tian scholars  and  divines,  and  within  a few 
years  the  literature  of  the  subject  has  grown 
from  a few  standard  and  well-known  books 
to  a vast  number  of  treatises,  essays,  papers 
and  stately  volumes,  written  in  Germany, 
France,  England,  India  and  the  United 
States,  while  the  observations  and  testi- 
mony of  missionaries  and  travelers  have 
thrown  a flood  of  light  upon  the  moral, 
religious  and  theological,  as  well  as  the 
civil  and  political,  status  of  this  mighty 
system. 

It  is  our  purpose  in  these  pages  to  present 
a mere  outline  of  the  relations  of  Islam  to 
Christianity  as  illustrated  by  those  features 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


25 


in  Islam  as  a system  and  in  the  state  of  the 
Eastern  World,  which  are  unfavorable  to  the 
acceptance  of  Christianity,  together  with  those 
which  are  favorable.  It  is  not  possible  to  treat 
the  subject  in  an  exhaustive  manner  within 
the  present  limits,  but  we  may  hope  to  gather 
together  the  salient  points,  that  we  may  the 
better  estimate  the  nature  of  the  contest  be- 
fore us. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  UNFAVORABLE  FEATURES. 

§ I.  The  first  difficulty  lies  in  the  union 
between  the  temporal  and  spiritual  power 
in  Islam. 

It  is  a politico-religious  system.  The  sul- 
tan is  the  caliph  of  Mohammed — i.  e.  his 
successor.  He  is  the  prophet  and  priest  and 
king  of  the  Mohammedan  world.  The  laws 
of  the  empire  are  based  on  the  Koran,  the 
decisions  of  the  imams  and  Mohammedan 
tradition.  The  scimitar  was  the  precursor 
and  supporter  of  the  Koran  when  Moham- 
med and  his  successors  first  propagated  the 
new  faith. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Crescent  ruled 
from  Burmah  on  the  east  to  Mogadore  on 
the  Atlantic,  and  all  Europe  trembled  at 
the  name  of  Islam.  In  the  Turkish  em- 


20 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


27 


pire  the  imperial  army  is  a religious  army, 
the  great  national  festivals  are  religious  fes- 
tivals, testimony  is  a religious  act,  and  Mo- 
hammedanism is  thus  entrenched  in  the  very 
political  and  civil  organization  of  the  empire. 
Apostasy  from  the  Mohammedan  religion  is 
thus  in  Turkey  treason  to  the  Mohammedan 
state.  A convert  to  Christianity  from  Islam 
is  arrested  as  a renegade  from  the  conscrip- 
tion. The  military  authorities  will  insist  that 
they  care  nothing  for  the  man’s  religion,  but 
he  must  be  arrested  as  a traitor.  This  polit- 
ico-religious alliance  in  the  Turkish  empire 
is  in  accordance  with  the  letter  and  the  spirit 
of  Mohammedan  law,  and  is  the  great  ob- 
stacle to  the  evangelization  of  the  Moham- 
medans. 

§ II.  The  second  feature  in  Islam  unfavor- 
able to  missionary  success  is  the  divorce  be- 
tween morality  and  religion. 

The  Koran  is  not  wanting  in  moral  pre- 
cepts, nor  are  the  V edas  or  the  writings  of 
Confucius.  Yet  it  can  be  said  that  what- 


28 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


ever  in  the  Koran  is  true  was  taken  from 
the  Bible,  and  what  is  not  from  the  Bible 
is  either  false  or  frivolous. 

Islam  is  an  intensely  formal  and  ritual 
system,  a religion  of  works — outward  works, 
not  affecting  the  heart  or  requiring  trans- 
formation of  the  life.  Fasting,  the  pilgrim- 
age to  Mecca,  praying  five  times  a day,  tes- 
tifying “ There  is  no  God  but  God,  and 
Mohammed  is  his  apostle,”  almsgivings, 
ablutions,  genuflections,  circumcision  and 
repeating  the  one  hundred  names  of  God, 
are  some  of  the  rites  and  acts  by  which 
the  believer  purchases  Paradise. 

One  who  fulfills  this  ritual,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  is  a good  Muslim,  even  though  not  to 
be  believed  under  oath.  Dr.  Eli  Smith  of 
Beirut  was  said  by  an  Arab  to  be  a very  holy 
man But,  poor  man  ! he  had  no  religion 
that  is,  no  observance  of  an  outward  ritual. 
The  good  works  of  Islam  are  of  the  lips,  the 
hand  and  the  outward  bodily  act,  having 
no  connection  with  holiness  of  Jife,  honesty, 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


29 


veracity  and  integrity.  An  Arab  highway- 
robber  and  murderer  was  once  brought  for 
trial  before  a Mohammedan  pasha,  when  the 
pasha  stepped  down  and  kissed  his  hand,  as 
the  culprit  was  a dervish  or  holy  man  who 
had  been  on  several  pilgrimages  to  Mecca, 
and  had  been  known  to  repeat  the  name  of 
God  (Allah)  more  times  in  a day  than  any 
other  man. 

As  their  whole  idea  of  deen,  or  religion,  re- 
fers to  the  outward  and  ceremonial,  they  have 
lost  all  conception  of  the  spiritual  nature  of 
religion,  and  language  itself  is  so  perverted 
that  when  spiritual  ideas  are  meant  to  be 
conveyed,  or  attempted  to  be  conveyed,  to 
them,  they  apprehend  only  the  outer  husk, 
the  very  shell,  while  the  inner  spiritual 
meaning  is  lost.  “ The  minutest  change 
of  posture  in  prayer,  the  displacement  of 
a single  genuflection,  would  call  for  much 
heavier  censure  than  outward  profligacy  or 
absolute  neglect.”* 


* Stobart,  p.  237. 


30 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


§ III.  The  third  unfavorable  feature  in 
Islam  is  its  Ishmaelitic  intolerance. 

There  is  no  precept  in  the  Koran  enjoin- 
ing love  to  enemies.  It  teaches  kindness, 
charity  and  forgiveness  of  injuries,  but 
only  to  Mohammedans.  It  knows  nothing 
of  universal  benevolence. 

Islam  is  an  Arab,  an  Ishmaelitic,  faith — 
“its  hand  against  every  man.”  Mohamme- 
dans glory  in  the  name  Ismailee.  They  are 
the  people;  all  else  are  kafirs,  infidels.  Mo- 
hammed offered  to  men  their  choice  of  three 
things — Islam,  slavery  or  death.  All  who  do 
not  accept  Islam  are  looked  upon  as  the  legit- 
imate servants  of  the  true  believers,  and  must 
pay  them  tribute.  The  Circassians,  lately  de- 
ported by  the  sultan  from  Bulgaria  to  Syria, 
stated  on  their  arrival  that  “ they  had  killed 
off  the  little  kafirs  in  Bulgaria,  and  were  now 
fleeing  from  the  ‘ Big  Kafir,’  the  Muskobe, 
and  that  if  the  Russian  kafir  came  as  far  south 
as  Syria  they  should  massacre  the  Christians 
of  Syria,  and  then  flee  a second  time.” 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


31 


In  the  great  Mohammedan  missionary 
university  in  the  mosque  of  Azliar  in 
Cairo,  Egypt,  where  ten  thousand  students 
are  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan world,  studying  the  Koran  and 
preparing  to  teach  it  throughout  Asia  and 
Africa,  a missionary  prayer  is  offered  every 
evening  in  which  the  whole  ten  thousand 
unite.  The  following  is  a literal  transla- 
tion of  it : “I  seek  refuge  with  Allah  from 
Satan  the  accursed!  In  the  name  of  Allah, 
the  Compassionate,  the  Merciful ! O Lord 
of  all  creatures,  O Allah  ! destroy  the  in- 
fidels and  polytheists,  thine  enemies,  the 
enemies  of  the  religion ! O Allah ! make 
their  children  orphans  and  defile  their 
abodes ! Cause  their  feet  to  slip ; give 
them  and  their  families,  their  households 
and  their  women,  their  children  and  their 
relations  by  marriage,  their  brothers  and 
their  friends,  their  possessions  and  their 
race,  their  wealth  and  their  lands,  as  booty 
to  the  Moslems,  O Lord  of  all  creatures !” 


oo 

oZ 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


In  the  eighth  Sura  of  the  Koran,  verse  40, 
are  these  words:  “Fight  thou  against  them, 
till  strife  he  at  an  end  and  the  religion  be 
all  of  it  God’s.”  So  also  in  Sura  ix.  29  : 
“ Fight  thou  against  them  [i.  e.  the  Chris- 
tians and  Jews]  until  they  pay  tribute  by 
right  of  subjection,  and  they  be  reduced 
low  ” (i.  e.  utterly  humiliated). 

On  a recent  public  occasion  in  Beirut, 
after  the  official  reading  of  a firman  of  the 
sultan  Abd-ul-Hamid  guaranteeing  absolute 
equality  and  liberty  to  all  the  sects  of  the 
empire,  and  granting  to  the  Christians  the 
right  of  military  service  and  office,  the 
pasha,  an  enlightened  and  liberal  man, 
asked  an  old  Mohammedan  sheikh  of  the 
orthodox  school  to  close  the  ceremony  with 
prayer.  All  the  company  arose,  when  the 
sheikh,  a venerable,  white-bearded  dignitary, 
stepped  forward  and  prayed  as  follows  : “ O 
Allah,  grant  the  victory  to  His  Imperial 
Majesty  the  sultan  Abd-ul-Hamid  Khan. 
Destroy  all  his  enemies,  destroy  the  Rus- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


33 


sians;  O Allah,  destroy  the  infidels.  Tear 
them  in  tatters,  grind  them  in  powder,  rend 
them  in  fragments,  because  they  are  the 
enemies  of  the  Mohammedans.”  He  was 
then  about  to  proceed  when  the  mufti,  or 
chief  interpreter  of  the  Koranic  law,  stepped 
forward,  stopped  him  and  whispered  in  his 
ear,  when  he  proceeded : “ O Allah,  destroy 
the  enemies  of  the  Mohammedans,  because 
they  are  also  the  enemies  of  the  Christians 
and  of  the  Jews.  Amen.”  This  was  an 
orthodox  Mohammedan  prayer,  such  as  the 
orthodox  constantly  use,  and  this  venerable 
sheikh  was  unable  to  grasp  the  idea  that 
Christians  and  Jews  have  any  other  right 
but  the  right  of  serving  the  faithful  and 
being  cut  off  in  answer  to  their  prayers. 

This  spirit  of  intolerance  has  engendered 
a haughty,  overbearing  feeling  and  deport- 
ment toward  all  others,  which  is  intensified 
in  proportion  to  their  own  ignorance.  Mo- 
hammedan arrogance  is  encouraged  hy  the 
assurance  of  the  Koran  (Sura  iii.  106) : “Ye 


34 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


are  the  best  nation  that  hath  been  raised  up 
unto  mankind.”  What  more  is  needed  to 
prove  that  they  are  superior  to  all  others? 
They  know  little  or  nothing  of  geography, 
science  or  European  civilization.  Their  ex- 
clusive spirit  appears  in  a striking  manner 
in  the  Turkish  imperial  law  forbidding 
Christians  from  entering  the  army,  as  the 
army  is  composed  of  the  “ faithful,”  whose 
business  is  to  fight  for  the  faith.  This  law 
has  occasioned  the  greatest  political  and  ma- 
terial loss  to  the  sultan,  who  has  thus  alien- 
ated and  embittered  millions  of  his  Christian 
subjects. 

Whenever  Islam  holds  the  sword  it  uses 
it  for  the  oppression  and  humiliation  of  all 
infidels,  but  when  it  loses  the  military  con- 
trol it  submits  with  fatalistic  sullenness. 

§ IV.  The  fourth  unfavorable  feature  in 
Islam  is  its  destruction  of  the  family  through 
polygamy  and  concubinage. 

One  has  said  ( Stobart , p.  229)  that  “an 
evil  code  of  ethics,  enjoined  by  the  national 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


35 


faith  and  accepted,  by  its  appeal  to  a divine 
origin,  as  the  final  and  irrevocable  standard 
of  morality,  presents  an  insuperable  barrier 
to  the  regeneration  and  progress  of  a na- 
tion.”— “ Yet  such  is  the  position  which 
the  Koran  has  taken.” 

Mohammed  distinctly  sanctioned  polyg- 
amy, allowing  each  Muslim  to  take  four 
legal  wives  (Sura  iv.  3),  and  in  addition  to 
these,  as  concubines,  the  slave-girls  “ which 
their  right  hands  possess”  (Sura  Ixx.  30) — 
that  is,  purchased  or  captured  in  war.  “ In 
reality,  the  number  of  wives  is  practically 
unlimited,  as  divorce  and  exchange  are  al- 
lowed with  little  or  no  restraint.”  “ The 
husband  may  divorce  his  wives  without 
any  assigned  reason  and  without  warning, 
may  rebuke,  imprison  and  scourge  them, 
and  the  dishonored  wife  has  almost  no 
means  of  redress.”  “ The  husband  may 
twice  divorce  and  twice  take  back  the 
same  woman,  but  if  he  a third  time  divorce 
her,  she  cannot  again  become  his  wife  till 


36 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


she  have  married  (cohabited  with)  and 
been  divorced  from  some  other  man  ” 
(Sura  ii.  230). 

Ordinarily,  the  poorer  Mohammedans 
content  themselves  with  one  wife,  but  what 
peace  and  domestic  happiness  can  there  be 
where  the  wife  may  at  any  moment  be 
turned  away  by  the  caprice  of  her  hus- 
band? “Some  Mohammedans  make  a 
habit  of  continually  changing  their  wives.” 
One  author  speaks  of  “ young  men  who 
have  had  twenty  and  thirty  wives,  a new 
one  every  three  months and  there  is 
nothing  in  the  Koran  to  prevent  such  a 
brutal  course  of  action.  The  Koranic  doc- 
trine of  polygamy  utterly  destroys  the 
sanctity  and  purity  of  the  family,  brutal- 
izes the  man  and  degrades  the  woman. 
It  has  been  gravely  claimed  that  polyg- 
amy lessens  sensuality,  and  is  an  advance 
on  the  morality  of  civilized  Christian  na- 
tions. The  contrary  is  true.  It  has  made 
sensuality  in  its  most  beastly  forms  the 


MISSION  A II  I"  PR  OBLEM. 


37 


rule,  and  not  the  exception.  It  uproots 
the  family  economy,  order  and  discipline, 
and  fosters  unrestrained  passion  and  lust. 
No  intelligent  Mohammedan  defends  it  on 
the  ground  that  it  promotes  domestic  vir- 
tue, happiness  or  family  discipline : it  is 
defended  on  the  ground  of  its  divine  in- 
stitution in  the  Koran. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  Sir  William  Muir  that 
woman  “ possessed  more  freedom,  and  exer- 
cised a healthier  and  more  legitimate  influ- 
ence, under  the  pagan  institutions  of  Arabia 
before  the  time  of  Mohammed  than  under 
the  influence  of  Islam.”  Stobart  quotes  the 
language  of  Sallust  with  regard  to  the  prac- 
tice of  polygamy  among  the  ancient  Moors 
and  Numidians:  “No  one  marries  a woman 
for  a companion — pariter  omnes  viles  sunt;” 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Mohammedan 
women  to-day.  Polygamy  is  a mighty  ob- 
stacle to  Christianity  in  all  lands,  Moham- 
medan or  pagan,  and  nowhere  is  it  more 
firmly  entrenched  than  among  those  who 


38 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


defend  it  on  the  ground  of  a positive  divine 
ordinance. 

There  naturally  results  from  polygamy — 

§ V.  Fifthly,  the  degradation  of  woman. 

The  Moslems  say  that  “women  are  only 
superior  in  craft  and  cunning.”  “ There 
are  three  classes  of  persons  who  have  no 
religion  — Bedawin  Arabs,  muleteers  and 
women.”  Mohammed  declared  that  when 
he  looked  down  into  hell,  he  found  the 
greater  part  of  the  wretches  confined  there 
to  be  women.  The  whole  Mohammedan 
treatment  of  women  rests  on  the  assump- 
tion that  woman  cannot  be  trusted.  Wo- 
men are  not  allowed  to  eat  with  their  hus- 
bands, to  enter  the  floor  of  the  mosques 
nor  to  read  the  Koran,  except  in  very 
rare  cases.  Should  a woman  be  allowed 
to  learn  the  Koran,  she  is  placed  in  one 
room  with  her  female  attendants,  while  the 
teacher,  a blind  sheikh,  sits  in  the  adjoin- 
ing room  and  teaches  her  orally  through 
the  half-opened  door.  The  very  meanest 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


39 


Muslim  will  have  in  Paradise  eighty  thou- 
sand servants,  seventy-two  houris,  or  girls 
of  Paradise,  besides  the  wives  he  had  in 
this  world,  though  it  is  the  general  opinion 
that  the  wives  of  this  world  will  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  society  of  their  husbands 
in  Paradise,  and  go  into  a separate  place 
of  happiness.  The  Koran  does  distinctly 
affirm  that  “ God  will  bring  the  believing 
men  and  the  believing  women  into  gardens 
’neatli  whose  trees  the  rivers  flow  ” (Sura 
xlviii.  5)  ; also,  “ Male  and  female  believ- 
ers shall  enter  Paradise,  nor  shall  they  be 
wronged  the  skin  of  a date-stone.” 

But  even  on  the  supposition  that  the 
Koran  allows  women  a reunion  with  their 
husbands,  what  a monstrous  perversion  of 
all  a woman’s  ideas  of  virtue,  honor  and 
self-respect,  to  be  told  that  she  is  to  be 
but  the  secondary  character  in  a celestial 
hareem  of  seventy-two  houris  of  transcen- 
dent beauty  and  attractiveness ! 

Ali  Bey  says  (1807)  : “As  the  Prophet 


40 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


lias  not  assigned  any  place  for  women  in  his 
Paradise,  the  Mohammedans  give  them  no 
places  in  the  mosques,  and  have  exempted 
them  from  the  obligation  of  frequenting 
the  public  prayers.”  The  Moslem  women 
are  not  instructed  in  religion.  Woman  is 
a mere  toy  and  pander  to  man.  She  is 
kept  closely  veiled,  threatened  with  dire 
judgments  if  she  allows  a man  to  see  her 
face,  beaten,  despised,  kept  in  degradation. 

No  Mohammedan  will  allude  to  a woman 
in  the  presence  of  other  men  without  beg- 
ging pardon  of  those  present  for  mention- 
ing so  vile  a subject,  just  as  he  would  do  if 
alluding  to  a dog,  a hog  or  a donkey.  I 
know  of  nothing  which  so  stirs  the  indig- 
nation of  a Christian  civilized  man  as  to 
find  himself  in  the  company  of  men  call- 
ing themselves  decent  members  of  society, 
and  yet  unable  even  to  mention  the  name 
of  his  own  revered  mother  without  begging 
pardon  of  those  present  for  introducing  so 
vile  a subject.  I am  happy  to  say  that  I 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


41 


have  never  degraded  myself  by  yielding  to 
so  repulsive  and  abominable  a custom.  If 
a Mohammedan  finds  himself  obliged  to 
mention  his  wife,  mother  or  daughter  in 
the  presence  of  other  men,  he  will  speak 
of  her  in  the  masculine  gender,  as,  “ he  is 
sick  ” or  “ he  is  absent,”  etc. 

AY  omen  are  kept  in  seclusion  and  subjec- 
tion. I was  once  present  in  the  study  of 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  in  Beirut  when  the  Moham- 
medan mufti,  or  supreme  judge  of  the  city, 
called.  After  the  usual  formal  salutations 
he  informed  Dr.  Y7an  Dyck  that  there  was 
a sick  man  at  his  house  who  needed  im- 
mediate care.  Said  he,  “ He  has  fever, 
headache  and  great  pain.  AVill  you  come 
and  see  him  at  three  o’clock?”  Dr.  Van 
Dyck  replied,  “ Yes,  I will  call  and  see 
her''  The  mufti  was  speaking  of  his  wife, 
or  one  of  his  wives,  and  yet  he  would  not 
speak  of  her  in  the  feminine  gender,  but 
called  her  “a  sick  man.” 

The  Moslems  by  degrading  woman  have 


42 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


degraded  themselves.  In  a recent  book*  on 
woman  in  Turkey,  which  exposes  many  of 
the  vices  and  abominations  of  the  polyga- 
mous liareem-system  of  the  Moslems,  the 
author  represents  one  of  the  diplomatic 
corps  of  Constantinople  as  saying  to  his 
colleagues,  “ Enlightened  men  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  avow  that  polygamy  is  like  a cancer, 
eating  into  and  destroying  our  social  system. 
To  rid  us  of  such  a scourge  is  the  special 
work  of  a patriot.  It  should  be  the  heart- 
felt wish  of  every  Mussulman  to  undertake 
and  accomplish  it;  for  the  advantages — we 
may  say  the  blessings — which  result  from 
monogamy  are  immense,  and  we  know  how 
to  appreciate  them.  For  my  own  part,  I 
could  heartily  wish  that  a radical  reform 
were  set  on  foot  in  our  social  system,  and 
that  the  emancipation  of  woman  could  lead 
to  the  abolition  of  polygamy.  No  doubt 
the  day  will  come  when  women  will  walk 

* Les  Femmes  en  Turquie.  Par  Osman  Beg,  Major  Vladimir 
Andyovich.  Paris : Caiman  Levy. 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


43 


unveiled  through  the  streets,  and  go  into 
society  as  they  do  in  Europe ; hut,  alas ! I 
am  old,  and  shall  never  live  to  see  that 
happy  day.” 

In  speaking  of  mixed  marriages  the 
same  author  says,  “ The  Koran  permits  a 
Mussulman  to  marry  a Christian — forbids 
that  Moslem  women  should  be  joined  to 
Christian  husbands.”  “This  law  bears  the 
seal  of  its  Semitic  origin  in  the  sense  of 
lowering  woman,  who  is  regarded  in  her- 
self as  but  a little  cipher.  Woman,  in  her 
husband’s  view,  is  but  a field ; and  in  this 
way  a Moslem  may  possess  himself  of  the 
object  without  worrying  himself  as  to  its 
produce.  As  a field  can  have  neither  faith 
nor  intellect  nor  will  of  its  own,  it  would 
be  absurd  for  a man  to  occupy  himself 
about  what  a woman  believes,  thinks  or 
wishes  : she  is  absolutely  nothing  but  her 
master’s  domain.” 

The  Koran  says  (Sura  ii.  223)  : “ Your 
wives  are  your  field and,  as  Osman  Beg 


44 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


so  clearly  shows,  they  are  treated  as  having 
no  more  rights  or  honor  or  respect  than  a 
field.  Sura  iv.  38  says  : “ Men  are  superior 
to  women,  on  account  of  the  qualities  with 
which  God  hath  gifted  the  one  above  the 
other.”  “ Virtuous  women  are  obedient, 

. . . but  chide  those  for  whose  refractor- 
iness ye  have  cause  to  fear,  and  scourge 
them.”  Whatever  other  injunction  of  the 
Koran  is  disobeyed,  this  one  is  well  kept 
by  the  Moslems.  Wife-beating,  that  most 
repulsive  and  degrading  practice,  being  en- 
joined in  the  Koran,  is  so  common  as  to 
be  thought  not  even  worthy  of  remark. 
Osman  Beg,  in  describing  hareem-life  in 
the  seraglio  of  the  sultan  in  Constantinople, 
observes : “ Discipline  is  maintained  in  the 
seraglio  by  repressive  measures  and  corporal 
punishments.  The  first  consist  in  a refusal 
of  permission  to  go  out,  being  locked  in,  etc. 
Corporal  punishments  are  designated  by  the 
verb  to  abandje,  which  signifies  the  basti- 
nado on  the  soles  of  the  feet.  In  the  pres- 


MISSION  AH  Y I'll  OB  LEM. 


45 


ent  century  the  reforming  spirit  lias  pene- 
trated everywhere,  and  the  bastinado  has 
undergone  a sensible  diminution,  at  least 
for  the  person  of  the  sufferer.  The  prac- 
tice of  striking  young  girls  upon  the  soles 
of  their  feet,  with  the  risk  of  laming  them, 
has  been  quite  abandoned.  Blows  are  given 
elsewhere : it  would  be  hard  to  say  with 
precision  on  what  part  of  the  person.  It 
is  well  understood  that  rods  are  substituted 
for  the  stick.” 

It  is  asserted  that  the  liareem  of  the  sul- 
tan Abd-ul-Medjid  numbered  not  less  than 
one  thousand  women  and  girls,  who  were,  as 
all  Moslem  women  are,  uneducated,  profane, 
slanderous,  capricious,  never  trained  to  con- 
trol their  tempers  or  their  tongues  for  a 
moment.  One  can  imagine  the  moral  and 
social  condition  of  woman  in  such  a home, 
or  such  a caricature  of  a home.  The  rod, 
the  scourge,  is  the  only  instrument  of  dis- 
cipline. Women  are  treated  like  animals, 
and  behave  like  animals. 


46 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


It  is  the  testimony  of  history  that  the 
Mohammedans  are  responsible  for  the  whole 
zenana- system  of  India,  and  that  previous 
to  the  irruption  of  the  Moslem  Moguls 
(Mongols)  the  Hindoo  women  enjoyed 
vastly  greater  liberty  than  since  that  time. 
It  is  the  Moslem  theory  that  woman  can 
never,  in  any  time,  place  or  circumstances, 
be  trusted ; they  must  be  watched,  veiled, 
suspected,  secluded.  Ali  Beg  says:  “I 
have  often  seen  the  people  of  Morocco 
present  the  sultan  with  their  daughters 
“ he  has  married  two  of  his  own  sisters 
“ decorum  requires  that  Mohammedans 
never  speak  of  women.”  Girls  and  women 
are  not  counted  in  taking  the  census.  A 
man  having  daughters,  and  no  sons,  regards 
himself  as  childless. 

It  is  fair  to  judge  any  religious  system  by 
its  fruits  in  the  domestic  family-life,  by  its 
treatment  of  woman ; and,  tried  by  this  test, 
Mohammedanism  is  a failure.  What  worse 
condemnation  of  Islam  can  be  found  than 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


47 


the  Koranic  precept  which  enjoins  the 
“ scourging  of  disobedient  women  ” ? 

Alas  for  the  eighty-five  millions  of  Mo- 
hammedan women  living  without  consola- 
tion and  dying  without  hope ! 

§ VI.  As  a natural  result  of  their  treat- 
ment of  woman,  we  find  in  Islam,  sixthly, 
gross  immorality. 

The  Rev.  J.  Vaughan,  for  nineteen  years 
a missionary  in  India,  says:  “However  the 
phenomenon  may  be  accounted  for,  we, 
after  mixing  with  Hindoos  and  Mussul- 
mans for  nineteen  years  back,  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  the  latter  are,  as 
a whole,  some  degrees  lower  in  the  social 
and  moral  scale  than  the  former.” 

In  these  days,  when  so  much  has  been 
written  about  the  high  ethical  tone  of 
Islam,  we  shall  speak  plainly  on  this 
subject,  unpleasant  as  it  is.  We  would 
reiterate  the  position  already  taken,  that 
polygamy  has  not  diminished  licentiousness 
among  the  Mohammedans.  The  sin  of 


48 


TIIE  MOHAMMEDAN 


sodomy  is  so  common  among  them  as  to 
make  them  in  many  places  objects  of 
dread  to  their  neighbors.  The  burning 
denunciations  of  the  apostle  Paul  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Romans,  verses  24  and  27, 
are  applicable  to  tens  of  thousands  in  Mo- 
hammedan  lands  to-day:  “Wherefore  God 
also  gave  them  up  to  uncleanness ; . . . men 
with  men  working  that  which  is  unseemly, 
and  receiving  in  themselves  that  recompense 
of  their  errors  which  was  meet,” 

In  the  city  of  Hamath,  in  Northern 
Syria,  the  Christian  population  even  to  this 
day  are  afraid  to  allow  their  boys  from  ten 
to  fourteen  years  of  age  to  appear  in  the 
streets  after  sunset,  lest  they  be  carried  off 
by  the  Moslems  as  victims  of  the  horrible 
practice  of  sodomy.  Mohammedan  pashas 
surround  themselves  with  fair -faced  boys, 
nominally  as  scribes  and  pages,  when  in 
reality  their  object  is  of  entirely  another 
character.  A young  English  lord,  travel- 
ing in  Syria  some  years  since,  entered  the 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


49 


Turkish  baths  in  the  city  of  Tripoli,  when 
he  was  set  upon  by  a number  of  Moslems, 
as  the  men  of  Sodom  attempted  to  assail 
the  angelic  guests  of  the  righteous  Lot, 
and  only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  did 
he  effect  his  escape  from  their  brutal 
hands.  They  were  arrested,  bastinadoed 
and  sent  to  the  Acre  penitentiary.  A 
crime  so  abominable,  unspeakable  and  in- 
credible, instead  of  being  checked  by  Mo- 
hammedanism, is  fostered  by  it,  and  it  is 
one  of  the  scourges  of  Mohammedan  so- 
ciety. 

§ VII.  Another  of  the  untoward  features 
of  Islam  is  untruthfulness,  or,  in  plain  lan- 
guage, lying. 

It  is  often  asserted  that  the  Moslems  as 
a class  are  truthful — more  so  than  their 
Greek,  Armenian  and  Maronite  neighbors 
in  Turkey.  There  can  be  no  question  that 
the  nominal  Christian  populations  are  far 
enough  from  the  scriptural  standard — 
“ Truth  is  fallen  in  the  streets,  and  equity 


50 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


cannot  enter” — but  there  is  little  to  choose 
between  the  different  sects  in  this  respect. 

I have  known  men  among  the  Moslems 
comparatively  truthful,  but  as  a rule  truth- 
telling  is  one  of  the  “ lost  arts.”  It  is  rare 
even  to  find  a man  who  can  be  believed 
under  oath,  although  the  Orientals  have  a 
superstitious  fear  of  an  oath.  Perjury  is 
too  common  to  be  noticed,  and  even  the 
kadis,  or  judges  of  the  Koranic  law,  are 
notoriously  corrupt  and  venal.  According 
to  their  law,  none  but  Mohammedans  can 
testify  in  courts  of  law,  and  scores  ot  false 
witnesses  can  be  found  in  any  large  Moslem 
town  or  city,  although  testimony  is  regard- 
ed as  a religious  act  offered  in  the  presence 
and  to  the  very  “ face  of  God.” 

Although  the  Koran  enjoins  care  for  the 
poor  and  the  orphan,  no  poor  man  can  se- 
cure his  rights  in  a Moslem  court,  where 
everything  is  done  by  bribery.  There  seems 
to  be  an  utter  collapse  of  restraining  power 
on  the  conscience  where  personal  interest  is 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


51 


involved,  and  the  spectacle  of  a man  always 
telling  the  truth  on  principle  was  something 
unknown  in  the  East  before  the  revival  of 
evangelical  Christianity. 

Their  highest  and  most  solemn  oath  is 
“ by  the  beard  of  Mohammed.”  But  in 
these  latter  days  they  have  found  an  oath 
of  even  greater  binding  force,  and  now  in 
important  cases  they  swear  “by  the  ivord 
of  an  Englishman .” 

§ VIII.  Another  obstacle  in  Islam  is  the 
Koranic  misrepresentation  and  perversions 
of  the  person  and  teachings  of  Christ. 

In  Mohammed’s  day  (Sura  v.  116)  Jesus 
is  asked  whether  he  said  to  men,  “Receive 
me  and  my  mother  as  two  Gods  besides 
God.”  Also,  “ They  are  certainly  infidels 
who  say  God  is  the  third  of  three.”  Mo- 
hammed saw  the  pseudo-Gospels  full  of 
prayers  and  hymns  of  praise  to  Mary,  the 
“theotokos”  (mother  of  God),  and  the 
Trinity  was  in  those  days  converted  into 
a positive  tritheism,  regarding  the  Father, 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


52 

the  Son  and  the  Spirit  as  three  distinct  Gods. 
There  is  reason  to  suppose  that  Mohammed 
inferred  from  the  Mariolatry  prevalent  in 
his  time  that  the  Trinity  consisted  of  the 
Father,  the  Son  and  the  Virgin  Mary ! 
Whether  we  believe  that  he  saw  the  New 
Testament,  and  wilfully  gave  it  a Jewish 
interpretation,  or  that  he  only  heard  of  it 
through  Jewish  and  Arian  sources,  it  is 
equally  true  that  the  Koran  greatly  mis- 
represents the  character  ol  Christ.  It  calls 
him  “ Christ  the  Word  of  God,”  and  yet 
denounces  those  who  call  him  God,  and 
“ repudiates  all  the  leading  dogmas  of  the 
Christian  faith.”  “It  attacks  his  divine 
nature,  denies  his  death,  and  utterly  ig- 
nores the  redemption  purchased  by  his 
sufferings  and  death  on  Calvary.  feura 
xliii.  59  asserts  that  “ Christ  is  none  other 
than  a servant  whom  God  favored  with 
the  gift  of  prophecy.” 

Yet  there  is  a plain  contradiction  in  the 
Koran  with  regard  to  the  death  of  Christ. 


MISSION  A R Y PR  OB  LEM. 


53 


Sura  iv.  156  asserts  that  “ the  Jews  did  not 
really  kill  him,”  while  Sura  iii.  47,  48  as- 
serts that  God  said,  “ O Jesus,  verily  I will 
cause  thee  to  die,  and  I will  take  thee  up 
unto  me.”  The  Moslem  doctors,  in  order 
to  explain  away  the  latter  verse,  claim  that 
the  death  of  Jesus  is  still  future,  and  that 
at  his  second  coming  into  the  world  before 
the  Last  Day  he  will  die ; and  in  the  city 
of  Medina,  in  the  “ Hujrali,”  or  chamber 
where  Mohammed  is  buried,  a vacant  tomb 
is  left  for  “ Saiyidna  Iesa  ibn  Mariam  ” 
(our  Lord  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary),  where 
at  his  second  coming,  on  the  fulfillment  of 
his  mission,  he  is  to  be  buried. — Stobart, 
p.  145. 

§ IX.  Another  obstacle  is  the  aggressive 
spirit  still  vital  in  Islam. 

While  it  is  true  that  Mohammedans  do 
not  distribute  the  Koran,  nor  even  sell  it 
to  an  unbeliever,  there  still  exists  not  a 
little  of  the  old  Crescentade  spirit  of  the 
seventh  century.  We  have  already  alluded 


54 


TIIE  MOHAMMEDAN 


to  the  great  Mohammedan  missionary  uni- 
versity in  Cairo,  Egypt,  with  its  ten  thou- 
sand pupils  and  three  hundred  Moham- 
medan sheikhs  as  teachers.  The  central 
and  fundamental  study  is  the  Koran  and  the 
Koranic  literature,  such  as  Arabic  grammar, 
prosody,  logic,  rhetoric,  with  Mohammedan 
history  and  laws.  These  young  men  live 
in  ascetic  simplicity,  studying,  eating  and 
sleeping  on  the  floor,  and  boarding  them- 
selves at  a cost  of  not  far  from  four  cents 
a day.  They  are  trained  in  the  Koran, 
and  fitted  to  go  forth  throughout  the  Mo- 
hammedan world  as  teachers  and  interpre- 
ters of  the  Koran.  They  are  a real  power 
in  Asia  and  Africa,  and  Christian  mission- 
aries find  the  graduates  of  the  Azhar  their 
ablest  and  most  formidable  adversaries  in 
these  great  dark  continents. 

When  Stanley’s  letter  from  Uganda  was 
published  in  England,  mentioning  his  prop- 
osition to  King  Mtesa  to  abandon  his  newly- 
embraced  Islam  ism  and  accept  Christianity, 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


55 


and  appealing  to  Christendom  to  send  mis- 
sionaries to  this  great  African  kingdom,  the 
letter  was  translated  and  published  in  the 
Turkish  and  Arabic  journals,  which  took 
up  the  subject  with  great  fervor.  A Mos- 
lem missionary  society  was  formed  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  subscriptions  raised  in  the 
capital  and  Syria,  for  sending  Arab  Mo- 
hammedan missionaries  at  once  to  confirm 
King  Mtesa  in  the  faith.  The  outbreak 
of  the  Russian  war  at  the  time  interrupted 
their  plans,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  Mohammedan  world  is  not  wholly 
asleep  on  the  subject  of  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary enterprises  of  our  day.  They  are 
poor  in  resources ; they  have  no  great  Bible, 
tract  and  missionary  societies  to  raise  and 
expend  the  means  and  train  the  men ; but 
they  have  men,  zealous,  hardy,  fearless,  who 
would  welcome  death  in  the  swamps  of 
Africa  as  the  sure  passport  to  Paradise, 
and  who  carry  their  Moslem  principles 
with  them  wherever  they  go. 


56 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


In  Dutch  India,  Mohammedanism  is  ad- 
vancing steadily.  Dev.  Dr.  Sclireiber  ot 
the  Dhenisli  Missionary  Society  stated  in 
the  London  Missionary  Conference  in  1878 
that  “ there  are  several  regions  where  Mo- 
hammedanism is  steadily  winning  ground, 
but  perhaps  no  place  can  be  found  where 
that  progress  is  faster,  and  at  the  same 
time  more  astonishing  and  puzzling,  than 
it  is  in  Dutch  India,  because  there  it  goes 
on  not  only  in  spite  of  the  government  of 
a European  Christian  nation — nay,  it  would 
appear  that  this  government  itself  serves 
to  foster  and  forward  Mohammedanism  as 
far  as  its  boundaries  extend.”  He  states 
that  this  is  the  work  of  Moslem  Malay 
officials  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  gov- 
ernment. He  also  says : “ There  are  few 
proper  Mohammedan  missionaries  in  India, 
but  every  Moslem,  being  zealous  in  fulfill- 
ing his  religious  duties  and  very  ardent  to 
propagate  his  creed,  all  of  them  do  the 
work  of  missionaries,  especially  the  so-call- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


57 


ed  hadjis,  whose  number  increases  year  by 
year  on  account  of  the  passage  to  Mecca 
by  steamer  being  now  very  cheap  and  easy. 
In  1875  there  were  no  less  than  five  thou- 
sand six  hundred  hadjis  (pilgrims)  from 
Dutch  India.” 

In  the  African  continent  it  should  be  re- 
membered that  the  pagan  tribes  find  Islam 
a much  easier  creed  to  accept  than  Chris- 
tianity. King  Mtesa  can  retain  his  hun- 
dred wives  and  be  a good  Moslem  still. 
Christianity  comes  with  its  severe  moral 
code — its  demand  of  a full  surrender  of 
the  world,  its  insistence  upon  holiness  of 
life — and  the  pagan  says,  “This  religion  is 
too  narrow  and  severe  for  me.” 

One  of  the  weapons  which  the  Moham- 
medans are  borrowing  from  Christianity  in 
fighting  Christianity  is  the  printed  page. 
The  freedom  of  the  press  afforded  by  the 
British  government  in  India  has  opened 
the  way  for  spirited  controversy  between 
the  Christians  and  Mohammedans  on  the 


58  MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


claims  of  Christianity  and  Islam.  Dr. 
Pfander  wrote  a book  called  Mezan  el  Hoc 
— “The  Balance  of  Truth ” — defending 
Christianity  and  exposing  the  errors  of 
the  Koran.  This  was  replied  to  in  a 
ponderous  volume  styled  Izhctv  el  Hoc 
“Manifestation  of  the  Truth  — in  which 
the  author  defends  the  Koran  and  assails 
the  Bible  and  Christianity,  quoting  the  oft- 
refuted  infidel  arguments  from  the  time  of 
Julian  down  to  Voltaire.  This  book  has 
been  translated  into  Arabic  and  introduced 
into  Egypt  and  Syria,  although  the  Turkish 
government  has  forbidden  the  publication 
of  Mezan  el  Hoc.  Under  the  new  Anglo- 
Turkish  treaty  we  may  hope  for  new  liberty 
of  the  press  and  for  full  permission  to  reply 
to  Moslem  controversial  attacks  upon  Chris- 
tianity. 


CHAPTER  II. 


It  is  now  our  pleasant  task  to  consider 
the  other  side  of  the  picture — the  features 
in  Islam  as  a doctrine  and  a system  which 
may  be  called  favorable  to  the  future  ac- 
ceptance of  Christianity  and  the  Bible  by 
Mohammedans,  together  with  certain  provi- 
dential facts  which  tend  toward  the  same 
consummation. 

§ I.  The  first  is  their  belief  in  the  unity 
of  God. 

This  is  certainly  a great  advance  on 
polytheism  and  paganism.  It  is  the  rock, 
the  citadel,  of  their  strength.  “ There  is 
no  God  but  God  ” is  a sublime  expression 
of  faith.  The  outward  reverence  of  the 
Moslems  for  the  one  God,  Allah,  is  most 
impressive.  The  one  hundred  names  or 
titles  of  God  are  written  in  letters  of  gold 


59 


60 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


around  the  cornices  of  the  richly-ornament- 
ed rooms  and  courts  of  Damascus,  Cairo 
and  other  Moslem  cities.  Among  these 
names  are  — the  Omnipotent,  the  Eternal, 
the  Infinite,  the  Exalted,  the  Hearer,  the 
All-present,  the  Good,  the  Merciful,  the 
Compassionate,  the  King,  the  Only  One, 
the  All-knowing,  the  Judge,  the  Kevealer, 
the  Kewarder,  the  Searcher,  the  Everlast- 
ing, etc.  In  their  belief  of  God’s  unity 
they  proclaim  eternal  hostility  to  polythe- 
ism and  all  association  of  another  with  God 
in  acts  of  worship. 

It  has  been  asserted  by  recent  writers  that 
holiness  is  nowhere  ascribed  to  God  in  the 
Koran.  This  is  incorrect.  In  Sura  lxii.  1 
we  read:  “All  that  is  in  the  heavens  and 
all  that  is  on  the  earth  uttereth  the  praise 
of  God,  the  King,  the  Holy,  the  Mighty, 
the  Wise.”  And  in  Sura  lix.  23 : “ He 
is  God,  beside  whom  there  is  no  god : he 
is  the  King,  the  Holy,  the  Peaceful,  the 
Faithful,  the  Guardian,  the  Mighty,  the 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


61 


Strong,  the  Most  High.”  And  when  we 
remember  the  constant  identity  between 
passages  of  the  Koran  and  the  Talmudic 
perversions  of  scriptural  histories  and  rab- 
binic moral  precepts,  and  the  fact  that 
Mohammed  had  either  seen  or  heard  the 
Psalms  (as  is  proved  from  the  quotation 
of  Ps.  xxxvii.  29  in  the  Sura  xxii.  105 — 
“And  now  have  we  written  in  the  Psalms 
that  my  servants  the  righteous  shall  inherit 
the  earth”),  it  would  be  strange  indeed  had 
he  entirely  omitted  the  title  of  holy  from 
among  the  names  of  God.  Yet  it  is  true 
that  the  Mohammedans  have  no  conception 
of  a holy  God  nor  of  holiness  of  life.  The 
moral  standard  of  Mohammed  himself  was 
so  low  that  we  cannot  expect  true  ideas  of 
holiness  among  his  followers. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  whether 
Mohammed  would  not  have  led  his  follow- 
ers directly  into  Christianity  had  he  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  the  New  Testament 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  divinity 


62 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


of  Christ.  The  Moslems  do  use  the  name 
“Word  of  God”  and  “Spirit  of  God,”  but 
are  unable  to  explain  what  they  mean  by 
the  terms.  The  time  will  come,  and  has 
already  come  to  not  a few  of  them,  when 
they  will  understand  their  need  of  a divine 
Saviour,  and  cast  themselves  into  the  out- 
stretched arms  of  Christ. 

§ II.  The  second  favorable  feature  is  their 
reverence  for  the  Old  and  New  Testament 
Scriptures. 

It  is  an  oft-mooted  question*  whether  the 
Bible  was  translated  into  Arabic  before  Mo- 
hammed. St.  Paul  went  to  Arabia.  A ery 
early  there  were  Christian  martyrs  and  bish- 
ops in  Arabia.  The  first  Arabian  council 
was  held  in  229,  when  Beryllus,  bishop  of 
Philadelphia,  was  convicted  of  entertaining 
wrong  opinions  of  Christianity.  Another, 
in  247,  condemned  Arabians  who  held  that 
the  souls  of  men  die,  and  will  come  to  life 

* See  Biblical  Monuments.  W.  H.  Rule,  D.  D.,  and  J.  C. 
Anderson.  London : 1871-73. 


MISSION  All  Y PR  OB  LEM. 


63 


again  with  their  bodies.  It  is  natural  to 
believe  that  the  Arabian  bishops  would 
have  insisted  on  a due  regard  for  the 
written  word  of  God.  They  must  have 
had  Arabic  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  or 
read  the  Syriac  and  explained  it  in 
Arabic. 

It  is  said  that  during  the  lifetime  of 
Mohammed,  between  the  years  569  and 
632,  Warka,  the  son  of  Nofel,  translated 
the  Bible  or  some  part  of  it  into  Arabic, 
but  that  the  version  is  no  longer  to  be 
found.  It  is  unquestionable  that  Mo- 
hammed knew  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the 
Psalms,  which  are  sometimes  written  to- 
gether in  Arabic  manuscripts,  and  that 
he  had  knowledge  of  the  Gospels.  In 
general  terms  he  speaks  of  these  collec- 
tively as  the  Scriptures. 

Beland  published  in  Arabic,  with  a Latin 
translation,  a native  Arab  account  (Relandus 
de  ReJig tone  Mohammedica  Ultrajecti , 1705, 
pp.  19-25)  of  the  religion  of  the  Moham- 


64 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


medians,  wliicli,  whatever  was  its  age,  coin- 
cides with  the  Koran  itself  in  relation  to 
our  present  subject,  and  contains  an  express 
acknowledgment  of  divine  inspiration  in 
the  sacred  books  of  Jews  and  Christians, 
as  well  as  in  their  own.  “Concerning  the 
divine  books,”  it  says,  “ faith  in  the  books 
of  God  consists  in  our  being  persuaded  in 
our  mind  and  confessing  with  our  tongue 
that  these  glorious  books,  which  he  sent 
down  from  heaven  to  his  prophets,  come 
from  God ; which  ‘ sending  down  ’ from 
heaven,  or  inspiration,  has  taken  place 
without  creation,  and  from  eternity  without 
material  production.  In  these  books  are 
contained  the  commands  of  God,  with  his 
prohibitions  and  decrees,  promises  and 
threatenings,  and  declarations  of  what  is 
lawful  and  unlawful,  what  is  of  obedience 
and  what  is  of  rebellion,  and  where  he 
points  out  retributions  both  by  rewaid  and 
punishment.  All  these  books  are  the  aeiy 
word  of  God  most  high — a word  which  is 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


65 


read  with  tongues,  written  down  in  books, 
treasured  in  the  minds  of  men.  This  word 
of  God  is  distinct  from  letters  and  written 
words,  but  these  letters  and  words  are  call- 
ed by  metaphor  the  ‘ word  of  God,’  because 
that  is  what  they  truly  indicate.  . . . There 
are  one  hundred  and  four  of  these  books, 
of  which  the  most  high  God  gave  to  Adam, 
ten;  to  Seth,  fifty;  to  Enoch  (Idris),  thirty; 
to  Abraham,  ten  ; to  Moses,  one,  which  is 
the  Law  (Tourah)  ; to  Jesus,  one,  which  is 
the  Gospel  (Enjeel) ; to  David,  one,  wdiicli 
is  the  Book  of  Psalms ; to  Mohammed,  one, 
which  is  the  Koran  al  Furkan,  or  ‘ Decider.’ 
“ He  who  denies  these  volumes,  or  doubts 
any  part  of  them,  whether  section  or  sen- 
tence or  word,  surely  he  is  an  infidel.  O 
God,  keep  us  safe  from  infidelity !” 

It  would  be  difficult  to  doubt  that  Mo- 
hammed found  both  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments in  the  hands  of  the  Arabs  when  he 
gave  them  his  own  book,  which  he  pretended 
to  be  divine.  He  may  have  heard  of  certain 


G6 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


apocryphal  Jewish  or  other  books,  and  at- 
tributed them  to  Adam  and  Seth  and  Enoch, 
as  did  the  Sabians. 

The  Koran  was  not  to  be  translated,  nor 
could  it  be  carefully  read  by  any  but  be- 
lievers in  Mohammed, who  declared  himself 
the  last  and  greatest  prophet  oi  God. 

About  680  an  Arab  prince  moved  John, 
patriarch  of  the  Jacobites,  to  translate  the 
four  Gospels  from  Syriac  into  Arabic. 
Syriac  had  lost  its  ground  as  a lh  ing 
language.  Mariana  the  historian  affirms 
that  Juan,  the  prelate  of  Seville  m the 
reign  of  Favila  the  Goth,  in  737,  trans- 
lated the  Bible  into  the  Arabic  language 
with  the  intention  of  helping  both  Chris- 
tians and  Moors.  “ There  are  some  copies 
of  this  translation,”  says  Mariana,  “which 
have  been  preserved  even  to  our  time,  and 
are  to  be  seen  in  some  parts  of  Spain. 
Mariana,  Historia  General  de  Espana,  lib. 
7,  cap.  3. 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


67 


“ When  Hernando  de  Talavera,  archbish- 
op of  Granada,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  had 
actually  prepared  an  Arabic  version  of  the 
Bible  for  the  instruction  of  the  Moorish 
population  of  the  city,  newly  captured  by 
the  army  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in 
1492,  the  cardinal  and  inquisitor  Ximenez, 
the  inquisitor-general  Beza,  and  the  pope, 
Julius  II.,  not  only  rebuked  Hernando  for 
this  godly  work,  but  gave  him  a cruel  pen- 
ance of  three  years’  imprisonment  as  an 
atonement  for  his  sin.” 

Sir  William  Muir  lias  published  a list  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  testimonies  from 
the  Koran  to  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments.  Among-  them 
are  these  (Sura  v.  77)  : “Oh,  ye  people  of 
the  book  (Jews  and  Christians),  ye  are  not 
grounded  upon  anything  until  ye  observe 
the  Tourah  (Old  Testament)  and  the  En- 
jeel  (New  Testament),  and  that  which  hath 
been  revealed  unto  you  from  your  Lord.” 
Sura  xxi.  105 : “ Verily,  we  have  written 


68 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


in  the  Psalms,  after  the  Law,  that  my  ser- 
vants the  righteous  shall  inherit  the  earth.” 
Sura  vi.  90  : “ The  Jews  and  Christians  are 
they  to  whom  we  have  given  the  book  and 
wisdom  and  prophecy.”  Sura  iii.  2:  “God! 
there  is  no  god  but  he,  the  living,  the  eter- 
nal. He  sent  down  the  Tourali  (Old  Testa- 
ment) and  the  Gospels  from  before,  foi  the 
guidance  of  mankind.”  Sura  v.  50:  “And 
we  caused  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary  to  follow 
in  their  (the  prophets’)  footsteps,  attesting 
the  Scripture  of  the  Tourali,  which  preceded 
him ; and  we  gave  him  the  Gospel,  wherein 
is  guidance  and  light,  which  attests  the 
Tourali  that  preceded  it,  and  a direction 
and  an  admonition  to  the  pious.”  Sura 
ix.  113:  “And  whether  the  believers  slay 
or  be  slain,  the  promise  of  God  thereupon 
is  true  in  the  Tourali  and  in  the  Gospel 
and  in  the  Koran.” 

The  only  serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
a general  reception  of  the  Bible  by  the 
Mohammedans  is  the  charge  by  Moslem 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


69 


writers  that  Christians  have  corrupted  the 
Bible.  If  you  can  convince  a Moham- 
medan that  you  have  the  genuine  Old  and 
New  Testaments  mentioned  in  the  Koran, 
he  will  press  it  to  his  lips  and  his  forehead 
and  read  it  with  reverence ; and  thousands 
of  copies  of  the  Bible  have  already  been 
sold  among  them. 

§ III.  They  also  reverence  Christ  as  the 
greatest  of  all  the  prophets  before  Mo- 
hammed. 

They  always  speak  of  him  as  Sayidna 
Aiesa,  “our  lord  Jesus,”  as  they  say  “our 
lord  Moses  ” and  “ our  lord  Mohammed.” 
On  the  great  mosque  of  Amweh  in  Damas- 
cus is  a beautiful  minaret  called  “the  min- 
aret of  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary  ;”  and  the 
Moslems  believe  that  Christ  will  descend 
upon  this  minaret  at  the  Last  Day  to  judge 
the  world.  I once  knew  a Mohammedan 
pasha  to  bastinado  a Moslem  for  cursing 
the  name  of  Christ. 

§ IV.  Again,  although  they  regard  all 


70 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


but  themselves  as  infidels,  they  have  espe- 
cial respect  for  Christians  and  Jews  as 
the  “ people  of  a hook  ” — Ehel  Kitab. 

At  the  time  of  the  massacre  of  the  Chris- 
tians in  Damascus  in  1860  by  a fanatical 
mob  of  Druses,  Moslems,  Turkish  soldiers 
and  Ivoords,  Abd-ul-Kadir,  the  Algerine 
emir,  a man  learned  in  the  Koran  and  of 
high  personal  character,  charged  down  upon 
the  bloodthirsty  mob  with  his  faithful  body- 
guard of  one  hundred  Algerines,  crying,  “ I <3 
are  the  infidels.  A\  ill  ye  massacre  the  peo- 
ple of  a book,  who  are  paying  tribute  to  our 
sultan  and  theirs?”  He  turned  the  tide  of 
blood  and  rescued  twelve  thousand  Christians 
from  a terrible  death,  and  when  the  news  of 
his  noble  conduct  reached  Christian  lands 
he  received  decorations  from  all  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe,  and  from  the  United  States. 

§ V.  It  is  also  a favorable  feature  that 
the  Mohammedans  hate  idols  and  idolatry 
with  perfect  hatred. 

Never  was  such  an  iconoclastic  uprising 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


71 


as  that  of  the  followers  of  Khalecl  and  Omar 
in  their  conquest  of  Syria  and  Egypt,  and 
of  successive  Moslem  leaders  in  Asia  and 
Africa.  When  the  king  of  Lahore  in  the 
year  997  begged  the  victorious  Mahmoud 
of  Ghuzni  to  spare  the  temple  of  Tannas- 
sar,  the  most  holy  place,  the  very  Mecca, 
of  the  Hindoos,  Mahmoud  replied  that  “the 
followers  of  Mohammed  were  vowed  to  root 
out  idolatry.”  The  shrine  of  the  god  was 
pillaged  and  the  image  of  Juggoom  smash- 
ed into  a thousand  atoms,  which  were  sent 
to  pave  the  streets  of  Ghuzni,  Mecca  and 
Baghdad.  The  old  Greek  and  Roman 
statues  still  remaining  in  Syria,  Palestine 
and  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Mohammed  were 
thrown  down,  decapitated  and  defaced.  No 
less  than  ten  thousand  Oriental  Christian 
churches  filled  with  pictures  and  images 
■were  condemned  to  the  same  fate  as  idol 
shrines,  and  either  destroyed  by  being 
pulled  down  or  purged  of  idols  and  con- 
verted into  mosques. 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


72 

The  same  spirit  marks  their  course  to-day 
in  Central  Africa,  in  Dutch  India  and  in 
China.  For  ages  they  believed  that  all 
Christians  were  equally  idolatrous  in  the 
use  of  images  and  pictures  as  objects  of 
worship,  and  they  hated  all  alike.  It  is 
only  within  the  past  half  century  that  they 
have  learned  that  there  is  a vast  body  ot 
Christians  who  believe  in  Christ  and  hate 
idolatry  as  earnestly  as  themselves.  When 
the  time  comes  for  their  conversion  to 
Christianity,  as  it  must  come,  it  will  not 
be  to  Latin  or  Greek  Christianity,  but  to 
the  simpler  and  purer  form  ol  the  1 rotest- 
ant  evangelical  faith. 

§ VI.  Another  characteristic  of  Moham- 
medans is  their  reverence  for  laic. 

Their  laws  are  religious,  embodied  in  the 
Koran,  the  Sunna  and  the  opinions  of  the 
imams.  They  are  trained  to  obedience  to 
law.  Many  of  their  laws  are  good,  though 
better  adapted  to  a primitive  pastoral  or 
nomad  state  of  society  than  to  the  modern 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


73 


state  witli  its  commercial  and  international 
relations.  Intense  as  is  their  adherence  to 
the  Koran,  yet  when  the  existing  govern- 
ment, whether  Mohammedan  as  in  Turkey, 
or  Christian  as  in  India,  enacts  a law,  they 
are  ready  to  obey,  and  whenever  there  is  a 
seeming  conflict  between  the  old  Koranic 
law  and  the  modern  code,  their  muftis  stand 
ready  with  legal  opinions  to  reconcile  the 
apparent  or  real  contradiction,  set  aside  the 
old  and  legalize  the  new.  This  regard  for 
law  makes  them  readily  acquiescent  in  the 
existing  order  of  things,  whether  the  ruler 
be  Mohammedan  or  Christian. 

§ VII.  Again,  it  is  greatly  in  favor  of  the 
Mohammedans  that  as  a rule  they  practice 
total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks. 

One  of  the  chief  reasons  which  moved 
Mohammed  to  prohibit  the  use  of  wine 
was  undoubtedly  to  make  them  different 
from  Christians,  Jews  and  pagans,  all  of 
whom  used  wine.  Abstinence  on  the  part 
of  the  Moslems  is  a part  of  their  ritual. 


74 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


They  are  promised  rivers  of  wine  in  Para- 
dise, but  forbidden  its  use  on  earth.  The 
orthodox  will  hardly  cultivate  grapes,  fear- 
in  g the  evil  effects  of  wine.  The  use  of 
coffee  as  a universal  beverage  in  the  East 
has  had  much  to  do  with  the  temperate 
habits  of  the  people ; coffee  is  always  offer- 
ed to  guests  and  transient  callers.  There 
are  many  of  the  official  class,  especially 
among  the  Osmanli  Turks,  who  drink  to 
excess,  but  they  are  the  exceptions  to  the 
rule.  I have  known  the  Mohammedan 
pashas  repeatedly  to  shut  up  every  grog- 
shop in  the  town,  and  only  allow  them 
opened  again  by  the  protests  of  some 
European  consul  whose  proteges  were  en- 
gaged in  the  traffic. 

§ VIII.  It  is  also  an  important  element 
in  Mohammedan  character  that  they  all  be- 
lieve in  the  need  of  a religion  and  in  the 
certainty  of  future  retribution. 

They  have  no  respect  for  a man  who  has 
no  religion. 


MISSION AR  Y PROBLEM. 


75 


§ IX.  The  doctrine  of  fate,  and  of  abso- 
lute surrender  to  the  decree  and  will  of 
God,  are  elements  of  strength  in  the  Mos- 
lem character. 

In  times  of  pestilence,  when  others  flee, 
the  Moslems  stand  at  their  posts.  What- 
ever may  be  said  of  the  wisdom  of  remain- 
ing in  crowded  cities  during  a pestilence 
when  a salubrious  mountain-climate  is  near 
and  accessible,  one  cannot  fail  to  admire 
their  fearless  firmness  in  the  hour  of  dan- 
ger. This  doctrine  of  fate  may  yet  play 
an  important  part  in  restraining  the  fanat- 
ical passions  of  the  Moslem  multitude  when 
great  movements  toward  Christianity  begin 
to  take  place  among  them.  Were  the  Arab 
Moslems  to  hear  to-morrow  that  the  sultan 
himself  had  become  a Christian,  it  is  not 
unlikely  that  the  only  thought  would  be, 
“It  is  the  decree  of  God;”  “It  is  mukod- 
dar,  kismet “ Let  the  will  of  God  be 
done !” 

^ X.  Another  favorable  feature  in  the 


76 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


case  is  the  predominant  and  growing  influ- 
ence of  Christian  nations  in  Mohammedan 
countries. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Crescent 
ruled  from  Burmah  to  Gibraltar  and  in 
all  Central  Asia  and  Northern  Africa. 
Since  then  not  less  than  fifty  millions  of 
Mohammedans  have  passed  under  Christian 
rule.  The  Moslem  princes  of  India  yield 
loyal  obedience  to  a Christian  queen ; Abd- 
ul - Ivadir,  the  emir  of  Algiers,  lives  in 
Damascus  on  a pension  from  Christian 
France ; the  emir  Abd-er-Raliman  of  At- 
cheen  in  Sumatra  has  just  been  exiled,  on 
a pension  from  the  Holland  government, 
to  reside  in  Mecca;  and  the  family  of 
Schamyl,  the  Circassian  chief,  are  under 
Russian  support  and  protection  — to  say 
nothin0'  of  the  other  Central  Asian  chiefs 
who  are  now  subjects  ol  Russia. 

Of  the  estimated  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five millions  of  Mohammedans  in  the 
world — 


MISSION  A R Y PR  OB  LEM. 


77 


England  in  India 
Russia  in  Central  Asia 
France  in  Africa 


rules  over  41,000,000 


“ 6,000,000 

“ 2,000,000 


Holland  in  Java  and  Celebes  “ 1,000,000 

Under  Christian  governments,  50,000,000 

It  is  religiously  wrong  to  pay  tribute  to 
infidels,  and  yet  nearly  one-third  of  the 
Mohammedan  world  is  under  infidel  rule. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  political 
power  and  unity  of  Islam  is  to-day  the  chief 
remaining  pillar  of  its  strength.  When  this 
is  broken,  and  Moslems  can  no  longer  col- 
lect tribute  from  infidels,  wage  against  them 
successful  wars,  replenish  their  polygamous 
hareems  with  slave-girls,  and  enforce  their 
own  politico-religious  calendar  of  fasts,  feasts 
and  civil  regulations  upon  others  than  their 
own  sect,  they  will  be  far  more  accessible  to 
argument  and  reason.  When  the  scimitar 
falls  their  confidence  in  their  own  system 
will  fall.  A highly-educated  Mohammedan 
Egyptian  recently  remarked  to  Rev.  T.  P. 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Hughes,  an  English  missionary,  “No  intel- 
ligent man  believes  in  the  teaching  of  the 
Moslem  divines,  for  our  religion  is  not  in 
keeping  with  the  progress  of  thought.” 

Islam  is  losing  its  vital  power  in  its  old 
seats.  Mr.  Hughes  justly  remarks : “ The 
Arabian  prophet  over-legislated,  and,  as  we 
now  see  in  Turkey,  it  is  impossible  for  civ- 
ilized Mohammedans  to  be  tied  hand  and 
foot  by  laws  and  social  customs  which  were 
intended  for  Arabian  society  as  it  existed 
twelve  hundred  years  ago ; whilst,  on  the 
contrary,  Christianity  legislates  in  spirit, 
and  can  therefore  be  adapted  to  the  spir- 
itual and  social  necessities  of  mankind  in 
the  various  stages  of  human  thought  and 
civilization.” 

§ XI.  Another  interesting  feature  in  the 
relations  of  Islam  to  Christianity  is  the  fact 
that,  widely  extended  as  is  the  Mohammed- 
an religion,  it  is  completely  encircled  by 
Anglo-Saxon,  Christian  political  and  civil 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


79 


England  holds  Gibraltar,  Malta  and  Cy- 
prus ; controls  the  navigation  of  the  Suez 
Canal  and  the  Red  Sea ; holds  Aden  on  the 
south  coast  of  Arabia ; the  whole  of  India, 
with  three  hundred  millions  of  people,  of 
whom  forty-one  millions  are  Mohammedans ; 
Singapore  and  Hong-Kong ; the  island-world 
of  Australia ; New  Zealand,  Cape  Colony, 
Natal,  the  Transvaal  and  Sierra  Leone ; 
and  to-day  colonies  of  Anglo-Saxon  Chris- 
tian men  are  pushing  their  way  inward 
from  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  to  that 
great  lake-region  of  Central  Africa  discov- 
ered by  Burton,  Baker  and  Speke,  Living- 
stone and  Stanley.  And  not  only  does 
British  power  thus  encircle  Islam,  the 
queen  of  England  ruling  over  more  Mo- 
hammedans than  the  sultan  and  the  shah 
combined,  but  there  is  another  fact  of  no 
less  importance  which  will  have  a direct 
bearing  on  the  future  of  Islam.  It  is 
this : that  everywhere  the  Moslems  hold 
the  English — the  Amdiz — in  the  highest 


80 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


esteem.  At  the  time  of  the  annual  pil- 
grimage to  Mecca,  when  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands  of  pilgrims  often  meet  together  from 
all  parts  of  Asia  and  Northern  Africa,  they 
compare  notes  and  interchange  views  with 
regard  to  their  respective  countries.  The 
Mohammedans  of  India  testify  to  the  Mos- 
lems of  the  West  that  they  have  in  India 
what  no  other  Moslems  possess  — a just 
government  and  an  incorruptible  judiciary. 
Say  they  : “ We  have  British  judges  who 
decide  according  to  the  law  and  the  facts, 
whom  no  money  can  bribe,  and  before  whom 
a Hindoo  is  as  good  as  an  Englishman,  and 
a poor  man  as  good  as  a rich  man.”  I have 
heard  Mohammedans  in  Syria  say,  “Would 
that  we  had  British  judges  here!”  This  con- 
fidence in  English  veracity  and  integrity  is 
so  decided  that  Lord  Macaulay  forty  years 
ago  stated,  in  his  essay  on  Lord  Clive,  that 
“ the  entire  history  of  British  India  is  an 
illustration  of  the  great  truth  that  the  most 
efficient  weapon  with  which  man  can  en- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


81 


counter  falsehood  is  truth.  During  a long 
course  of  years  the  English  rulers  of  India, 
surrounded  by  allies  and  enemies  whom  no 
engagement  could  bind,  have  generally  act- 
ed with  sincerity  and  uprightness ; and  the 
event  has  proved  that  sincerity  and  upright- 
ness are  wisdom.  English  valor  and  Eng- 
lish intelligence  have  done  less  to  extend 
and  to  preserve  our  Oriental  empire  than 
English  veracity.  No  oath  which  supersti- 
tion can  devise,  no  hostage  however  precious, 
inspires  a hundredth  part  of  the  confidence 
which  is  produced  by  the  ‘Yea,  yea’  and 
‘Nay,  nay’  of  a British  envoy.  The  great- 
est advantage  which  a government  can 
possess  is  to  be  the  one  trustworthy  gov- 
ernment in  the  midst  of  governments 
which  nobody  can  trust.  This  advantage 
we  enjoy  in  Asia.” 

And  this  advantage  the  English  enjoy 
to-day  to  a tenfold  greater  degree  than  in 
the  days  of  Lord  Macaulay.  Wherever  an 
Englishman  or  an  American  may  travel 


82 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


among  Mohammedans  (for  they  call  both 
Angliz,  as  having  the  same  language  and 
religion)  he  will  be  received  with  hospi- 
tality. Let  him  journey  among  the  Koords 
of  Armenia,  the  Shea  Moslems  ot  Persia, 
the  Bedawin  Arabs  ol  the  Desert,  the  moie 
cultivated  Mohammedans  of  Damascus,  Cairo 
and  Baghdad,  the  semi-savage  and  fanatical 
Yezbeks  of  Asia  Minor,  the  hardy  mountain- 
eers of  Albania,  or  the  merciless  Circassians 
now  scattered  all  over  the  Turkish  empire, 
and  his  English  name  will  everywhere  en- 
sure him  a friendly  welcome. 

At  the  close  of  the  late  Russo- Turkish 
war,  when  the  victorious  legions  ot  Russia 
crossed  the  Balkans,  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  Circassians  who  had  been  engaged  before 
and  during  the  war  in  the  massacre  ot  the 
Bulgarian  Christians  and  the  pillage  of  then- 
towns  and  churches  fled  panicstricken  toward 
Constantinople  and  the  Bosphorus.  Nearly 
three  hundred  thousand  of  these  wild  fanat- 
ics threatened  the  peace  of  the  capital,  until 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


83 


the  sultan,  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  Euro- 
pean ambassadors,  ordered  their  removal  by 
steamer  to  Asiatic  Turkey.  Fifty  thousand 
were  assigned  to  Syria,  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  to  Asia  Minor,  and,  to  our  dis- 
may, the  Austrian  Lloyds  steamers  began  to 
land  them  by  thousands  at  the  Syrian  ports. 
Twenty-five  hundred  were  landed  in  Beirut 
and  quartered  in  the  mosques  and  khans, 
and  afterward  sent  to  Damascus  and  vicin- 
ity. Seventeen  thousand  were  landed  at 
Tripoli  and  sent  to  the  region  of  Hums 
and  Hamath. 

I was  at  the  port  of  Tripoli  in  March, 
1878,  when  five  thousand  Circassians  were 
landed  from  two  Austrian  steamers,  and 
walked  down  to  the  shore  with  the  Amer- 
ican missionary,  Mr.  Hardin,  to  see  the 
strange  sight.  A crowd  of  their  emirs 
or  chiefs  stood  by  us  watching  the  de- 
barkation. All  of  these  immigrants  were 
armed ; each  one  had  a sword,  dagger,  rifle 
and  two  Colt’s  navy  revolvers.  I asked 


84 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


one  of  the  chiefs  to  show  me  his  revolver. 
He  handed  me  one,  and  as  I returned  it 
lie  patted  my  shoulder  and  said,  “ Angliz  ? 
El  Angliz  wa  es  Shirkas  sowa-sowa.”  He 
spoke  in  Turkish,  and  a native  Syrian 
standing  by  translated  it  into  Arabic : 
“ Are  you  English  ? The  English  and 
Circassians  are  all  one."  I did  not  feel 
complimented  by  the  kind  declaration,  but 
it  was  a relief  to  know  that  these  wild 
creatures,  who  hate  the  Russians  with 
deadly  hatred  and  have  little  regard  for 
the  sultan,  do  hold  the  English  in  the 
highest  esteem.  But  for  this  fact  they 
would  form  an  element  of  the  most  men- 
acing character  in  the  population  of  Syria. 

When  the  port  of  Batoum  was  ceded  to 
Russia  the  Mohammedan  Lazis  of  the  vi- 
cinity, to  the  number  oi  thousands,  refused 
to  evacuate  the  town,  and  prepared  tor  war. 
The  sultan  in  vain  ordered  them  to  leave. 
At  length  a word  from  the  British  ambas- 
sador in  Constantinople  induced  them  to 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


85 


abandon  hostilities  and  return  to  their 
homes  in  peace. 

They  swear  by  the  word  of  an  English- 
man, and  look  on  the  English  as  their 
friends.  At  the  opening  of  the  Afghan 
war  the  official  Mohammedan  journal  of 
Constantinople  declared  that  if  the  Af- 
ghans fought  England  they  would  forfeit 
the  confidence  and  sympathy  of  the  whole 
Mohammedan  world,  as  they  would  be 
fighting  against  the  friends  of  the  Mo- 
hammedans. 

Another  fact  which  has  increased  the 
confidence  of  Mohammedans  in  Syria  in 
the  Angliz  has  been  the  residence  among 
them  of  some  representatives  of  that  no- 
blest style  and  stamp  of  man,  the  British 
Christian  merchant.  More  potent  than  the 
sermons  or  the  tracts  of  missionaries  has 
been  the  silent  influence  of  British  mer- 
chants I might  name,  who,  in  the  tempta- 
tions of  trade,  the  crookedness,  duplicity 
and  corruptness  of  native  merchants  and 


86 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


officials,  liave  maintained  their  integrity 
untarnished,  until  the  highest  and  most 
sacred  oath  a Moslem  can  swear,  even 
above  the  oatli  by  the  beard  of  the 
Prophet,  is  by  the  ivord  of  an  English- 
man ! All  honor  to  those  pure-minded 
and  upright  Britons  who  have  thus  taught 
the  corrupt  and  immoral  Orientals  that 
there  are  men  who  will  stand  to  their  word 
even  to  their  own  loss,  and  whose  word 
becomes  the  synonym  of  truth,  integrity 
and  purity ! 

I once  stood  in  a Moslem  shop  in  the 
ancient  Hamath  and  overheard  a Moham- 
medan near  by  emphasizing  his  word  by 
the  most  solemn  oath  he  could  command, 
and  he  finally  clinched  his  assertion  by 
swearing  on  the  word  of  Mr.  B , the 
Englishman  in  Beirut. 

This  extraordinary  confidence  in  the 
English,  taken  in  connection  with  the  re- 
cent  British  protectorate  extended  over 
Asiatic  Turkey,  is  an  element  of  the 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


87 


greatest  importance  in  the  future  relations 
of  Christianity  to  Islam. 

It  is  not  a mere  accident  that  so  many 
millions  of  men,  or  at  least  the  chief 
nations  among  them,  should  have  given 
their  confidence  to  the  leading  Christian 
colonizing  and  civilizing  power  of  the 
world. 

§ XII.  And  connected  with  this  is  their 
belief  that  Protestant  Christianity  is  the 
• purest  form  of  faith  in  the  world,  the 
nearest  in  doctrine  and  worship  to  their 
own. 

Up  to  a comparatively  late  period  the 
Moslems  looked  on  all  Christians  as  alike 
creature  - worshipers  and  idolaters.  They 
have  now  found  out  their  mistake.  They 
say  that  a Protestant  is  a man  who  tells 
the  truth  and  worships  God  and  follows 
the  Book.  They  perceive  that  Protestants 
alone  are  zealous  in  the  distribution  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  that  they  abhor  every  trace 
and  vestige  of  creature-worship.  This  fact 


88 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


will  not  be  without  its  weight  in  the  com- 
ing missionary  age  of  work  among  the 
Mohammedans. 

§ XIII.  Another  important  fact  in  con- 
nection with  the  relations  ol  Islam  to  Chris- 
tianity is  the  confidence  beginning  to  be 
reposed  in  American  missionaries  by  the 
people  and  the  rulers  in  Mohammedan 
countries. 

Forty  years  since  no  Mohammedan  sheikh 
would  teach  the  sacred  Arabic  to  a foreigner, 
yet  the  leading  Arabic  Mohammedan  scholar 
in  Syria  aided  Dr.  Van  Dyck  for  years  in 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Arabic,  and 
now  Mohammedan  boys  are  studying  Arabic 
under  Christian  teachers  in  American  mis- 
sion-schools. 

In  the  sad  battle-summer  of  1860,  that 
bloody  year  of  massacre  and  civil  war,  Mr. 
Calhoun  of  the  Syria  mission  was  at  his 
station  in  Abeili  (Ahbay),  Mount  Lebanon. 
That  town  is  the  home  of  several  noted 
families  of  Druse  beys  and  sheikhs.  The 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


89 


Druses  and  Maronites  were  in  deadly  strife, 
and  the  Maronite  men  had  all  fled  to  Beirut, 
leaving  their  women  and  children  behind. 
Before  leaving,  however,  they  brought  all 
their  treasures  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Calhoun. 
Bags  and  bundles  of  gold  coin  and  jewels, 
silk  raiment  and  household  treasures,  were 
brought  and  thrown  down  in  the  court  of 
Mr.  Calhoun’s  house,  without  a receipt  and 
with  scarcely  a label ; and  there  they  were 
safe.  The  war  went  on.  Day  by  day  vil- 
lages were  burned  and  the  whole  country 
was  sickened  with  dreadful  stories  of  bloody 
massacre  and  outrage.  Yet  every  morning 
and  evening  the  Druse  beys  and  sheikhs 
called  at  Mr.  Calhoun’s  house  to  assure  him 
that  no  one  should  molest  him,  and  that  not 
a house  in  Abeili  should  be  burned  or  in- 
jured. They  kept  their  word.  Then  the 
tide  turned.  All  Europe  was  aroused  by 
the  news  of  Syrian  massacres,  and  a British 
fleet  and  a French  army  of  six  thousand 
troops  came  to  Beirut.  The  French  army 


90 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


moved  into  Lebanon,  and  with  it  the  refu- 
gee Maronites  returning  full  of  vengeance 
against  the  Druses.  The  Druses  now  fled 
to  Hauran,  east  of  the  Jordan.  But  before 
leaving  they  in  turn  brought  their  treasures, 
their  gold  and  jewels,  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
Calhoun  for  safety. 

During  the  late  Russo-Turkisli  war  the 
town  of  Eski  Zagra  fell  alternately  into  the 
hands  of  the  Russians  and  the  Turks.  The 
American  missionaries,  Messrs.  Bond  and 
Marsh,  had  conducted  themselves  with  such 
prudence  and  kindness  toward  all  parties 
that  when  the  city  was  given  over  to  massa- 
cre, pillage  and  conflagration  the  Mohamme- 
dan neighbors  not  only  protected  them  from 
the  uplifted  sword  of  a Circassian,  but  went 
to  the  Turkish  military  head-quarters  and 
obtained  a guard  oi  regular  troops,  who 
watched  over  them  during  that  terrible 
night  of  July  31,  1877.  An  old  Moslem 
had) a (teacher)  pleaded  with  the  Circassian 
robber  until  the  sweat  ran  down  his  face, 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


91 


and  finally  bribed  him  to  leave  the  premises 
undisturbed.  The  Turkish  governor  also 
treated  the  missionaries  with  the  greatest 
kindness,  and  they  escaped,  after  great  pri- 
vation and  suffering,  safely  to  Constanti- 
nople. 

At  a recent  dedication  of  a Protestant 
church  edifice  in  a Syrian  village,  where  the 
workmen  had  been  molested  by  some  of  the 
“ baser  sort  ” of  Mohammedans  and  a riot 
had  been  threatened,  twelve  of  the  principal 
Moslem  sheikhs  and  old  men  attended  the 
dedication-service,  joining  in  the  singing  and 
behaving  with  the  greatest  decorum.  They 
had  come  to  show  their  regard  for  the  mis- 
sionary and  to  ensure  good  order  on  the 
occasion. 

The  town  of  Zeitoon  in  Asia  Minor  is  a 
rough  mountain-village,  inhabited  by  Arme- 
nians, all  of  whom  are  armed,  brave  and 
resolute,  and  for  years  not  only  threatened 
to  kill  any  missionary  or  Protestant  who 
should  visit  them,  but  defied  the  Turkish 


92 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


government  itself.  Years  passed.  They  were 
subdued  by  the  Turks,  and  some  of  them 
embraced  the  gospel.  At  length  the  exac- 
tions of  the  Turkish  local  rulers  became  in- 
tolerable. One  hundred  men  took  up  arms, 
refused  to  pay  the  money  levied  upon  them, 
attacked  the  police,  released  a multitude  of 
their  townsmen  unjustly  imprisoned,  and 
took  refuge  in  the  mountain-fastnesses.  The 
Turkish  local  governor  telegraphed  for  troops 
to  subdue  Zeitoon  again.  Moslem  fanaticism 
was  appealed  to,  and  a massacre  was  immi- 
nent. Just  at  that  time  Kamil  Pasha,  one 
of  the  most  enlightened  of  Turkish  officials, 
long  governor  of  Beirut,  and  who  has  a son 
in  the  Beirut  College,  was  waly,  or  governor- 
general,  of  the  province  of  Aleppo,  which 
included  Aintab,  Marash  and  Zeitoon.  He 
telegraphed  to  Rev.  Id.  Marden,  the  American 
missionary  in  Aintab,  requesting  him  to  go 
to  Zeitoon  and  act  as  commissioner  from  the 
Turkish  government  to  arrange  peace  with 
the  Zeitoon  rebels  without  a resort  to  arms. 


MISS  TON  A R Y PR  OB  LEM. 


93 


Mr.  Marden  accepted  the  proposal,  and  set 
out  for  Zeitoon,  attended  through  the  robber- 
fastnesses  of  the  mountains  by  a Turkish 
cavalry-guard ; but  when  they  reached  the 
confines  of  Zeitoon  the  guard  turned  back 
and  Mr.  M.  went  on  alone.  He  was  kindly 
received.  The  wild  people  of  Zeitoon,  who 
had  no  confidence  in  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment, had  perfect  confidence  in  the  mis- 
sionary. The  Turkish  waly,  who  had  no 
confidence  in  the  Zeitoonites,  trusted  im- 
plicitly in  the  missionary.  After  full  con- 
ference with  the  Zeitoon  people  by  day  and 
with  the  rebel  chiefs  by  night,  peace  was 
settled.  The  arms  and  horses  captured  from 
the  police  were  given  up  to  Mr.  Marden, 
to  be  taken  back  to  Marash.  All  agreed 
to  submit  to  the  government  on  condition 
that  they  be  relieved  from  oppression.  Mr. 
Marden’s  report  was  accepted.  The  army 
was  recalled,  the  local  governor  removed,  a 
Christian  governor  appointed  over  the  town, 
and  the  waly  telegraphed  his  thanks  and  the 


94 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


thanks  of  his  government  for  what  he  had 
done  in  the  interests  of  peace  and  humanity. 

Quite  recently  Dr.  Barnum,  an  American 
missionary  in  Ivharpoot,  Eastern  Turkey, 
lias  been  appointed  by  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment as  a member  of  the  board  of  education. 

A volume  might  be  filled  with  facts  and 
incidents  illustrating  the  same  general  truth. 

§ XI Y.  Again,  in  the  conflict  between 
civilization  and  barbarism  Islam  must  be 
the  loser. 

The  religion  of  Mohammed  and  its  legal 
code  are  adapted  to  a simple  pastoral  or 
nomad  state  of  society.  It  is  not  only  not 
adapted  to  modern  commerce  and  civiliza- 
tion, but  is  in  direct  conflict  with  them. 
Interest,  commissions  and  banks  are  con- 
trary to  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  Mo- 
hammedan law.  Quarantines  are  religious- 
ly illegal.  And  yet  there  are  an  Imperial 
Ottoman  Bank,  a code  of  new  laws  regu- 
lating interest,  notes,  commissions  and  com- 
merce, and  a system  of  rigid  quarantine 


3IISSI0NAEY  PROBLEM. 


95 


lias  been  established  throughout  the  Mo- 
hammedan empire.  The  sultan  and  his 
officers  are  constantly  obliged  to  obtain 
new  fetwas  or  legal  decisions  legalizing 
what  is  religiously  illegal  and  contrary  to 
the  convictions  and  belief  of  the  readers 
of  the  Koran.  The  advance  of  education 
and  popular  knowledge  will  expose  the 
absurdities  of  many  parts  of  Mohammedan 
doctrine  and  practice.  It  is  a sin  to  sub- 
ject the  sacred  name  of  God  to  pressure 
in  a printing-press.  Geography  will  teach 
them  that  there  are  quarters  of  the  globe 
where  the  observance  of  the  fast  of  Rama- 
dan would  be  impossible,  and  the  growth 
of  Christian  political  power  will  convince 
them  that  the  Jehad,  or  religious  war  for 
the  faith,  has  been  fought  for  the  last 
time. 

§ XV.  Another  fact  which  places  Islam 
at  a disadvantage  is  the  superior  facilities 
and  methods  in  the  hands  of  Christians , 
and  which  are  the  outgrowth  of  Christian- 


96 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


ity,  for  tlie  propagation  of  the  Christian 
religion. 

The  Moslems  have  no  tract  or  Bible  so- 
cieties, and  nothing  corresponding  to  any 
extent  to  our  modern  missionary  literature 
and  material  and  intellectual  appliances 
for  enlightening  and  benefiting  the  world. 
The  Koran  cannot  be  translated.  It  may 
be  paraphrased,  as  in  the  Urdu,  the  Javan 
and  Malayan  languages,  but  only  when  in- 
terlineated  in  the  Arabic  original.  There 
is  no  attempt  to  print  and  distribute  the 
Koran.  There  are  no  Koran  societies  or 
funds.  They  will  not  even  sell  the  book 
to  a known  unbeliever.  Ordinarily  they 
would  scorn  the  proposition  to  explain 
their  system  to  a Christian.  Their  chief 
propagandism  in  our  day  is  among  rude 
and  barbarous  tribes,  as  in  Africa  or  the 
East  Indies,  where  the  iconoclastic  spirit, 
carried  by  force  of  arms,  enables  them  to 
force  their  doctrines  upon  the  people. 

§ XVI.  Another  favorable  fact  bearing 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


97 


on  the  future  of  Islam  is  the  fact  that  the 
Bible  is  now  translated  into  the  Arabic,  the 
sacred  language  of  the  Koran,  and  into  the 
Osmanli  Turkish,  the  court  language  of  the 
sultan,  the  caliph  of  Mohammed. 

More  than  fifty  years  ago  the  first  band 
of  American  missionaries  landed  on  the 
then  little  known  and  inhospitable  shores 
of  Syria.  They  found  themselves  con- 
fronted by  the  difficult  Arabic  language, 
strange  customs  and  the  united  and  des- 
perate hostility  of  Christian  ecclesiastics 
and  Mohammedan  rulers.  The  Christian 
population  was  sunken  so  low  in  intel- 
lectual attainments  that  hardly  a Maronite 
or  Greek  could  be  found  capable  of  giving 
instruction  in  the  Arabic  language ; and 
such  was  the  fanatical  exclusiveness  of  the 
Moslem  ulema  that  for  years  not  one  of 
them  would  teach  the  Arabic  grammar  to 
a European,  or  even  to  a native  Christian. 
There  were  no  readers  excepting  the  Mo- 
hammedans taught  in  the  medrisehs  at- 


98 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


taclied  to  tlie  mosques,  and  no  books  but 
Arabic  manuscripts  ot  a religious  or  scho- 
lastic character.  The  missionaries  offered 
to  the  Mohammedans  two  things  — the 
Bible  and  the  Christian  religion.  The 
Bible  was  the  old  Arabic  translation  made 
by  the  Propaganda  in  Borne  and  printed 
in  London.  The  Moslems  replied:  “This 
Bible  cannot  be  the  word  of  God ; bad 
grammar  cannot  be  inspired.  And  as  to 

o 

Christianity,  we  have  lived  among  Chris- 
tians for  twelve  hundred  years,  and  we 
want  no  such  religion.  Look  at  Greeks 
and  Maronites  bowing  down  in  their 
churches  to  pictures  and  images,  offering 
incense,  burning  candles  and  abjectly  kiss- 
in0’  in  idolatrous  homage  the  work  of 
their  own  hands.  There  is  no  God  but 
God !” 

What  were  the  missionaries  to  do?  Two 
things  were  to  be  done : the  one,  to  translate 
the  Bible  anew  into  the  Arabic  language; 
and  the  other,  to  found  a pure  evangelical 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


99 


Church  in  the  Turkish  empire  which  would 
show  to  the  Mohammedans  the  Christian 
religion  in  its  purity,  in  a pure  morality, 
and  in  worship  free  from  idolatry  and 
creature-worship.  These  two  things  have 
been  done.  An  evangelical  Church  was 
formed.  It  has  grown  until  there  are  a 
hundred  evangelical  churches,  with  a mem- 
bership of  thousands,  all  over  the  empire, 
and  the  Armenian,  Greek  and  other  Ori- 
ental churches  are  agitated  with  plans  and 
projects  for  reform  brought  forward  by 
their  young  men  enlightened  and  edu- 
cated in  Protestant  schools  or  inspired 
with  the  influence  of  Protestant  literature 
and  enterprise. 

The  work  of  Bible  translation  was  under- 
taken at  an  early  day,  and  after  twenty 
years  of  labor  by  those  distinguished  Arabic 
scholars,  Drs.  Eli  Smith  and  Van  Dyck,  the 
Arabic  Bible  was  completed  in  1865.  The 
Bible  has  also  been  translated  into  ten  other 
languages  in  the  empire ; and  it  is  a signifi- 


10(3 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


cant  fact  in  the  providence  of  God  that  just 
at  the  present  juncture  of  political  affairs, 
when,  by  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  liberty  of 
conscience  has  been  asserted  to  be  the  law  of 
the  Turkish  empire,  the  revised  translation 
of  the  Bible  into  the  Osmanli  Turkish  is 
printed  and  ready  for  the  Mohammedan 
Turks. 

The  preparation  of  the  Bible  in  the  Arabic 
language  and  in  the  various  vernacular  dia- 
lects of  the  Moslem  nations  gives  the  Chris- 
tian a vast  advantage  in  the  coming  strug- 
gle with  Islam.  "We  not  only  have  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Koran  to  the  Scriptures,  but 
the  Scriptures  themselves  in  a translation 
classical  and  accurate,  printed  in  a cheap 
and  attractive  form,  electrotyped  and  printed 
from  duplicate  plates  in  New  York,  London 
and  Beirut,  and  ready  for  the  whole  Arabic- 
speaking and  Arabic-reading  world.  And 
in  this  appears  the  providence  of  God  in 
the  wide  spread  of  the  Arabic  language. 
Wherever  Mohammedanism  has  extended 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


101 


it  carried  with  it  the  Koran,  and  the  Koran 
has  carried  with  it  the  Arabic  language. 
According  to  the  Moslem  doctrine  of  in- 
spiration, every  sentence,  word,  letter  and 
vowel-point  in  the  Koran  was  written  in 
heaven  by  the  finger  of  God  and  given  to 
the  angel  Gabriel,  by  whom  it  was  given  to 
Mohammed.  The  inspiration  thus  resting  in 
the  very  words  and  letters,  the  Koran  cannot 
be  translated.  The  Arabic  is  the  sacred  lan- 
guage. If  you  would  ensure  the  acceptance 
of  the  Bible  by  a Mohammedan,  offer  it  to 
him  in  the  sacred  Arabic.  Sixty  millions 
of  men  speak  the  Arabic  as  their  vernacular, 
and  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions 
read  the  Koran,  if  at  all,  in  the  Arabic. 
The  new  Arabic  Bible  is  looked  upon  by  the 
Mohammedans  with  reverence,  and  many  of 
them  regard  it  as  the  long-lost  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  now  recovered  in  their  original 
purity. 

The  Bible  is  now  entering  the  ranks  of 
Islam  throughout  Africa  and  Asia.  From 


102 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Peking;  in  China  to  Sierra  Leone  on  the 
Atlantic,  throughout  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
degrees  of  longitude,  this  living  word  ot  life 
is  being  distributed  and  read.  We  believe 
that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  Bible 
will  be  sold  in  Mecca  itself.  But  it  is  not 
a little  gained  when  we  can  say  that  there 
is  hardly  a Mohammedan  in  Asia  or  Africa 
who,  when  he  reads  in  the  Koran  the  words 
already  quoted,  “ The  promise  of  God  is  true 
in  the  Tourah  and  in  the  Gospel,”  cannot 
find  that  Tourah  and  Gospel  already  trans- 
lated into  the  sacred  Arabic  of  the  Koran, 
if  not  in  his  own  vernacular.  It  is  on  sale 
in  Arabic  in  Jerusalem  and  Damascus,  in 
Alexandria  and  Cairo,  in  Constantinople 
and  Aleppo,  in  Mosul  and  Baghdad,  in  Te- 
heran  and  Tabriz,  in  Delhi  and  Agra,  in 
Calcutta  and  Bombay,  in  Shanghai,  Canton 
and  Peking,  in  Zanzibar  and  Khartoom,  in 
Algiers  and  Tunis,  in  Liberia  and  Sierra 
Leone. 

In  addition  to  the  work  of  Bible  trans- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


103 


lation  and  distribution,  the  missionaries  in 
Syria  and  other  parts  of  Turkey  have  pre- 
pared and  published  in  the  language  of  the 
people  hundreds  of  volumes  of  religious, 
educational  and  scientific  books,  have  opened 
hundreds  of  common  schools,  besides  found- 
ing five  colleges,  nearly  a dozen  female  semi- 
naries, six  theological  seminaries  and  a med- 
ical college.  These  schools  have  stimulated 
other  sects  and  communities  to  found  schools 
of  their  own,  so  that  the  work  of  popular 
education  is  advancing  with  great  rapidity. 

There  are  now  in  Syria  proper,  not  in- 
cluding Palestine  or  Asia  Minor,  eleven 
thousand  children  in  evangelical  schools,  of 
whom  nearly  one-half  are  girls.  In  the 
city  of  Beirut  alone  are  nearly  nine  thou- 
sand children  in  the  various  schools,  of 
whom  thirty-three  hundred  are  under  Prot- 
estant instruction.  Twrenty  years  ago  there 
were  not  probably  three  hundred  children  at 
school  in  that  entire  city.  There  are  now  in 
Beirut  twelve  printing-presses,  of  which  five 


104 


THE  M OH  A M MED  A N 


belong  to  Protestants.  There  are  nine  news- 
papers and  magazines,  of  which  six  are  Prot- 
estant. The  number  of  pages  of  Arabic 
printed  at  the  American  press  in  Beirut  in 
the  year  1877  was  12,630,000,  and  the  whole 
number  of  pages  printed  from  the  first  has 
been  172,441,000. 

In  addition  to  all  these  statistics,  and 
others  which  we  have  not  space  to  mention, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  is  a 
gradual  leavening  process  going  on  in  society 
throughout  the  East,  removing  the  old  prej- 
udice against  Protestant  Christianity  ; a won- 
derful awakening  of  the  popular  mind  in 
favor  of  female  education  ; a desire  for  books 
and  periodical  literature ; a willingness  to 
read  the  Bible;  a relaxation  of  priestly 
and  ecclesiastical  opposition  and  persecuting 
power;  and,  in  fine,  a widespread  prepa- 
ration for  the  preaching  and  teaching  of 
evangelical  truth,  such  as  has  not  been 
known  since  the  days  of  the  apostles. 

§ XVII.  And,  lastly,  it  is  the  universal 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


105 


belief  of  the  Modems  that  in  the  latter  day 
there  will  be  a universal  apostasy  from 
Islam,  when  the  true  faith  will  cease  to 
exist. 

The  signs  of  the  latter  day  are  various, 
and  among  them  that  the  sun  will  rise  in  the 
west,  and  a cold,  odoriferous  wind  blow  from 
Syria  which  will  sweep  away  the  souls  of  all 
believers  and  the  Koran  itself.  There  is 
no  prophecy  or  expectation  that  all  the 
world  will  be  converted  to  Islam.  The  old 
doctrine  of  carrying  the  Koran  by  force  of 
arms  into  all  nations  is  going  into  disuse. 
In  Christianity  the  belief  that  the  world 
belongs  to  Christ  is  a tremendous  power, 
giving  life  and  hope  to  the  Church.  The 
promises  of  Christ  and  his  command  to 
teach  all  nations  imply  that  all  nations  are 
to  be  taught.  The  promise  to  Moses,  given 
in  the  darkest  hour  of  Israel’s  history  and 
confirmed  with  the  oath  of  the  Almighty, 
“ As  truly  as  I live,  all  the  earth  shall 
be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord” 


106  MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 

(Num.  xiv.  21),  has  been  ringing  through 
the  Church  in  all  ages,  and  is  a pledge  that 
God’s  glory  and  the  religion  of  Christ  shall 
hi]  the  whole  earth. 

The  Mohammedan  has  no  such  hope.  He 
is  the  victim  of  a pessimist  philosophy.  He 
hates  idolatry,  and  will  fight  against  it,  and 
thus  clear  away  the  rubbish  of  paganism  and 
prepare  the  way  in  a measure  for  Christian- 
ity ; but  it  is  with  him  a work  ot  despe- 
ration. Every  new  province  wrested  from 
Mohammedan  sway,  every  new  defeat  of 
Mohammedan  arms,  every  new  exhibition 
of  Christian  superiority  in  civilization  and 
in  moral,  intellectual  and  material  progress, 
is  only  a new  proof  of  the  rapid  approach 
of  the  inevitable  apostasy. 


CHAPTER  III. 


§ XVIII.  Probable  effects  of  the  British 
Protectorate  over  Asiatic  Turkey. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  con- 
fidence reposed  by  Mohammedans  in  the 
English-speaking  races.  This  great  fact 
involves  us,  who  represent  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  among  the  people  of  the  East,  in  great 
responsibility.  It  throws  an  immense  re- 
sponsibility upon  the  churches,  the  public 
men  and  the  government  of  Great  Britain 
in  these  critical  and  eventful  times.  Such 
confidence,  the  growth  of  years,  the  result 
of  great  overruling  providences,  the  key  to 
the  hearts  and  the  minds  of  millions  of 
our  race,  should  be  wisely  used,  and  not 
abused.  It  is  but  one  step  in  that  great 
march  and  progress  of  events  which  is  to 

107 


108 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


lead  on  to  results  the  most  wonderful  in 
the  future  history  of  the  Church. 

In  the  wise  providence  of  God,  who 
causes  even  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise 
him,  an  Anglo-Saxon  Christian  queen,  al- 
ready the  ruler  of  forty-one  millions  of 
Mohammedans  in  India,  stands  up  before 
the  world  as  the  protectress  of  the  whole 
Turkish  empire  in  Asia.  As  we  are  not 
writing  from  the  political  standpoint,  but 
only  from  the  position  of  students  of  the 
divine  providence,  we  cannot  hut  look  on 
with  wonder  and  gratitude  to  God.  The 
question  has  already  passed  from  the  do- 
main of  mere  politics  to  that  of  a great 
and  momentous  providential  fact,  to  which 
we  do  well  to  take  heed. 

With  all  these  -things  in  view — the  geo- 
graphical extent  of  the  Mohammedan  re- 
ligion, the  work  of  literary  and  religious 
preparation  already  accomplished,  the  vast 
expansion  of  Anglo-Saxon  Christian  power 
and  population,  and  the  confidence  felt  by 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


109 


Moslems  everywhere  in  the  religious  and 
civil  institutions  of  Protestant  Christianity 
— let  us  inquire  what  are  some  of  the 
beneficial  results  likely  to  flow  from  the 
new  policy  of  the  British  government  in 
the  Turkish  empire. 

I.  One  result,  for  which  joyous  and  grate- 
ful acclamations  will  arise  from  millions  of 
the  oppressed,  will  be  the  abolition  of  the 
exaction  and  extortion  inseparably  connect- 
ed with  the  system  of  farming  the  tithes  of 
the  agricultural  productions  of  the  empire. 
It  is  difficult  for  an  Anglo-Saxon  freeman 
to  comprehend  what  is  meant  by  collecting 
the  tithes  in  the  Turkish  empire.  The 
attention  of  Europe  has  often  been  called 
to  the  horrors  and  outrages  incident  to  this 
relic  of  barbarism.  Many  of  the  most 
humane  and  honest  of  the  officers  of  the 
sultan  have  tried  in  vain  to  effect  its  abo- 
lition. The  sultan  himself  has  proposed 
it,  but  to  no  effect.  In  practical  working 
it  is  somewhat  after  this  fashion  : Some 


110 


TIIE  MOHAMMEDAN 


wealthy  Syrian,  desiring  to  increase  liis 
wealth  at  the  expense  of  his  conscience, 
attends  the  annual  auction  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  province  and  bids  for  the 
privilege  of  collecting  the  tithe,  we  will 
suppose,  in  the  Baalbek  district.  If  the 
tithe  of  that  district  is  estimated  at  five 
thousand  pounds,  he  will  bid  six  thousand 
pounds  for  the  privilege  of  collecting  five 
thousand  pounds.  At  harvest -time  the 
wheat  and  barley  of  each  village  are  gath- 
ered on  the  village  threshing-floors.  After 
the  tedious  labor  of  threshing  and  winnow- 
ing is  finished  the  grain  lies  in  heaps  in 
the  open  air,  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the 
multezim  of  the  tithes.  Days  pass  on 
and  he  comes  not.  The  people  become 
desperate.  The  last  year’s  supply  of  wheat 
is  exhausted;  there  is  no  bread  in  the 
village;  the  children  are  hungry.  Finally, 
the  old  men  of  the  village  go  as  humble 
petitioners  to  beg  the  multezim  to  come  to 
their  relief.  He  answers  that  he  is  busy — ■ 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


Ill 


he  cannot  come  for  a month,  or  at  the  least 
a fortnight.  They  beg  and  entreat,  but  all 
in  vain.  At  length  they  offer  him  one- 
eighth  of  the  crop  if  he  will  come.  He 
is  inexorable.  If  the  district  be  remote 
from  the  influence  of  Europeans,  they  maj 
be  obliged  finally  to  give  the  merciless 
extortioner  one-fifth,  one-fourth,  or  even 
one-half,  of  their  crop ; and  from  his  de- 
cision there  is  no  appeal.  He  is  accom- 
panied by  armed  horsemen,  and  the  peo- 
ple have  no  way  but  silent,  despairing 
submission. 

And  this  system  of  extortion  falls  as 
heavily  on  the  Moslems  as  on  the  Chris- 
tians. I know  of  a Mohammedan  village 
not  far  distant  from  the  city  of  Tripoli, 
Syria,  in  which  the  entire  income  of  the 
people  was  derived  from  their  fruit.  The 
village  was  surrounded  with  orchards  and 
gardens  of  olive,  fig,  mulberry,  quince, 
apricot,  orange,  lemon,  pomegranate  and 
plum  trees,  and  luxuriant  vineyards.  For 


112 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


several  successive  years  tlie  tax  levied  on 
this  village  exceeded  tlie  entire  income 
from  all  its  fruit,  and  the  people  were 
obliged  to  borrow  money  at  thirty  per- 
cent. interest  from  the  Tripoli  usurers  to 
pay  the  tax.  Such  a state  of  things  could 
not  long;  be  endured.  The  men  of  the 
village  assembled  and  decided  what  to  do. 
They  cut  down  every  tree  in  and  around 
that  village,  and  then  said  to  the  extor- 
tioners, “ What  are  you  going  to  do  now?” 
I rode  by  that  village  with  my  brother  the 
following  year,  and  the  sight  of  that  scene 
of  desolation  was  enough  to  bring  tears 
from  a stone.  I thought,  “ What  will  those 
poor  people  do?” 

I would  like  to  be  the  messenger  to  go 
through  that  oppressed  empire  and  pro- 
claim to  the  people  that  this  diabolical  sys- 
tem of  tithing  is  to  be  abolished  for  ever. 

The  abolition  of  this  inhuman  system 
will  be  as  life  from  the  dead  to  the  op- 
pressed subjects  of  the  sultan,  and  the 


MISSION  A II Y PR  OB  LEM. 


113 


word  lias  already  gone  out  through  the 
towns  and  villages  of  that  empire  that 
through  the  intervention  of  Christian 
England  this  dreadful  curse  is  to  be  for 
ever  removed.  Did  no  other  good  than 
this  result  from  the  late  war,  it  would 
seem  to  be  enough. 

II.  A second  result  will  be  the  curbing  of 
the  numerous  wild  and  semi-barbarous  tribes 
which  infest  large  districts  of  the  empire. 
These  are  the  Ivoords,  Yezidees,  Turkomans, 
Nusairiyeh,  Ismailiyeh,  Bedawin  Arabs  and 
Circassians.  The  destructive  and  irritating 
policy  of  pitting  these  tribes  against  one 
another,  on  the  “ divide  et-impera”  principle, 
has  kept  the  peaceably-disposed  peasantry 
in  terror  and  the  empire  in  constant  danger 
of  conflagration.  That  same  respect  for 
England  and  the  British  people  to  which 
we  have  alluded  above  will  prove  a potent 
aid  in  keeping  these  wild,  discordant  tribes 
in  order. 

When  the  Circassians  arrived  in  Syria  in 


114 


TIIE  MOHAMMEDAN 


1878  the  entire  Christian  population  was 
filled  with  alarm,  lest  these  wild  Mohamme- 
dan spoilers  should  see  fit  to  add  the  Syrian 
Christians  to  the  list  of  their  victims.  When 
I left  Beirut,  on  the  11th  of  April,  1878,  the 
most  of  them  had  been  removed  to  the  in- 
terior, but  the  gravest  apprehensions  were 
expressed  by  both  Christians  and  Moslems 
as  to  their  future  behavior.  The  subject 
gave  me  more  anxiety  than  any  other  one 
feature  in  Syrian  affairs  on  my  departure 
for  America. 

But  the  Anglo-Turkish  treaty  has  dis- 
pelled these  alarms.  The  British  consular 
a events  and  other  officials  throughout  the  em- 
pire  can  calm  these  turbulent  spirits  almost 
by  a word.  They  believe  in  the  Angliz  with 
a tenacity  of  faith  that  is  amazing. 

The  same  fact  is  true  of  all  the  wild  Mos- 
lem and  semi-pagan  tribes  of  the  empire. 
The  English  name  is  a spell.  No  other 
nationality  has  such  power  over  them ; and, 
difficult  as  the  task  may  seem  which  Britain 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


115 


lias  undertaken  in  keeping  that  empire  in 
order,  she  can  do  it  with  wonderful  facility, 
when  any  other  nation  or  people  might  fail. 

III.  A third  result  will  be  actual  liberty 
of  conscience  to  Moslem  converts  to  Chris- 
tianity. Heretofore,  this  liberty  has  not 
existed.  Moslem  converts  have  either  been 
secretly  put  out  of  the  way,  officially  ban- 
ished or  forcibly  thrust  into  the  army  and 
treated  with  cruelty  and  injustice.  Accord- 
ing to  a well-known  fetwa  or  legal  opinion 
of  the  Mohammedan  muftis,  “ all  the  sects 
of  infidelity  are  one.”  It  matters  not  to 
them  how  many  Armenians,  Greeks,  Jews 
or  Maronites  become  Protestants,  as  they 
simply  pass  over  from  one  infidel  sect  to 
another.  But  when  a Mohammedan  be- 
comes a Christian  the  case  is  regarded  as 
utterly  different. 

The  army  of  the  sultan  is  the  army  of  the 
caliph  of  Mohammed.  It  is  an  army  of 
believers.  No  Christian  up  to  the  present 
year  could  be  admitted  to  it,  for  how  can 


116 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


an  infidel  fight  the  battles  of  the  Prophet? 
The  military  conscription  being  thus  con- 
fined to  the  one  sect  of  the  Mohammedans, 
it  is  regarded  by  them  as  a grievous  and 
heavy  burden  which  they  are  all  bound  to 
share.  Whenever,  therefore,  a Mohammedan 
becomes  a Christian,  he  puts  himself  outside 
the  military  population  liable  to  the  con- 
scription. He  is  a deserter,  a renegade  from 
the  draft,  the  enemy  of  his  country,  guilty 
of  high  treason,  and  hence  punishable  with 
death.  The  officials  who  arrest  him  in  such 
a case  would  deny  that  he  is  punished  on 
account  of  religion.  Not  at  all ; he  is  pun- 
ished for  treason.  As  long  as  the  military 
system  of  the  empire  continues  to  be  ex- 
clusively a sectarian  Mohammedan  system, 
this  state  of  things  will  continue.  The 
sword  thus  hangs  over  the  heads  of  Mos- 
lem converts  to  Christianity,  although  the 
“death-penalty”  is  nominally  abolished. 

But  when  once  the  late  firman  of  the 
sultan  is  executed  and  Christians  are  ad- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


117 


mitted  to  the  army,  this  regime  of  terror- 
ism and  persecution  will  cease.  No  matter 
how  many  Mohammedans  become  Christians, 
they  will  still  be  liable  to  the  conscription, 
and  the  one  great  official  ground  of  perse- 
cution will  have  passed  away  for  ever.  That 
the  enrollment  of  Christians  in  the  army 
will  speedily  be  brought  about  under  the 
advice  and  protection  of  Great  Britain  I 
have  no  question. 

In  India  at  the  present  day  there  is  free- 
dom of  oral  and  printed  discussion  between 
Christians  and  Mohammedans.  It  does  not 
compromise  the  government  nor  endanger 
the  public  peace.  Moslems  have  the  right 
to  argue  against  Christianity,  and  Christians 
to  argue  against  Islam.  It  is  fair  play,  and 
all  are  satisfied.  Up  to  the  present  time  in 
Turkey,  Mohammedans  have  printed  books 
against  the  Bible  and  the  Christian  religion, 
and  we  have  no  right  or  privilege  of  reply- 
ing. As  we  have  already  stated  above,  Me- 
zan  el  Hoe,  a Christian  argument  against 


118 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Islam,  is  a prohibited  book,  but  Izhar  el 
Hoc,  a bitter  invective  against  tlie  Bible 
and  Christianity,  is  printed  and  circulated 
by  Moslems  without  restraint. 

All  that  we  ask  is  fair  play  and  protection 
to  all  men  in  worshiping  God  according  to 
the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences.  Under 
the  wise  and  firm  and  resolute  protection  of 
British  representatives,  the  Mohammedans 
of  Turkey  will  soon  learn  to  respect  the  re- 
ligious sentiments  of  those  who  rely  for  the 
defence  of  their  cause  on  argument  and  not 
on  the  sword,  and  Moslems  converted  to 
Christianity  will  be  unmolested. 

IV.  There  will  be  new  and  real  liberty 
of  the  press.  The  present  restrictions  upon 
the  press  are  a clog  and  a barrier  to  the 
expression  of  opinion.  Criticism  of  the  in- 
justice and  venality  of  government  officials 
is  punished  as  a crime.  Liberty  of  the 
press  in  such  a state  of  society  must  differ 
in  some  respects  from  what  it  is  in  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  but  there  is 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


119 


room  for  reform  of  the  most  fundamental 
character,  and  there  can  he  no  doubt  that 
in  this  respect  a thorough  reform  will  he 
effected. 

A respectable  and  well  - known  foreign 
resident  in  the  empire  was  obliged  to  bring 
the  certificate  of  half  a dozen  chiefs  of 
police  that  he  had  never  committed  a 
crime  in  their  districts,  and  finally  to 
bring  a certificate  that  his  portrait  was  not 
in  the  “ rogue’s  gallery  ” of  noted  scoun- 
drels of  the  city,  before  he  could  obtain 
permission  to  establish  a newspaper.  An 
important  press  in  the  empire  was  once 
threatened  with  being  shut  up  for  six 
months  for  having  printed  a little  tract 
on  the  duty  of  telling  the  truth  and  the 
evil  of  lying.  The  gravamen  of  the 

charge  was  that  the  tract  was  an  attack 
on  the  government. 

Until  the  journals  of  the  empire  are  al- 
lowed to  publish  and  expose  the  ways  and 
crimes  of  corrupt  officials  there  will  be  lit- 


120 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


tie  hope  of  reform.  Nothing  will  so  surely 
and  rapidly  do  away  with  bribery  and  cor- 
ruption as  a free  and  protected  press;  and 
this  we  are  sure  will  result  from  the  British 
protectorate. 

Y.  Another  result  will  be  a new  devel- 
opment and  extension  of  the  means  and 
appliances  of  education.  We  would  not 
withhold  credit  from  those  to  whom  credit 
is  due  among  the  officials  of  the  Ottoman 
government  who  have  striven  to  promote 
education  throughout  the  empire.  There 
are  a few  who,  by  word  and  example,  by 
attending  the  public  examinations  of  native 
and  foreign  schools,  and  even  sending  their 
own  children  to  them  for  education,  have 
done  all  in  their  power  to  help  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people.  Conspicuous  among 
these  is  Midhat  Pasha,  the  new  governor- 
general  of  Syria.  But  these  men  are  the 
honorable  and  honored  exceptions.  There 
are  vast  districts  of  the  empire  destitute  of 
schools,  and  the  higher  institutions  now  ex- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


121 


isting  are  crippled  in  tlaeir  influence  by  the 
want  of  the  proper  governmental  encour- 
agement. Here  is  room  for  immediate, 
easy  and  most  useful  reform,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  expect  that  a new  era  is 
about  to  dawn  on  the  Turkish  empire  in 
the  multiplication,  enlargement  and  eleva- 
tion of  the  existing  schools,  to  the  incal- 
culable benefit  of  the  people  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  light,  truth  and  true  religion 
among  them. 

VI.  Another  essential  reform,  of  vital 
necessity,  and  yet  among  the  most  certain 
to  be  made,  is  the  reconstruction  of  the 
judiciary  and  the  admission  of  Christian 
testimony  in  the  courts. 

What  would  be  said  of  a law  which  should 
make  no  testimony  admissible  in  the  courts 
of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  un- 
less it  were  offered  by  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist or  Methodist  Church  ? Yet  this  is  the 
state  of  things  iii  Turkey.  Testimony  is  a 
religious  act,  and  the  mahkameh,  or  Mo- 


122 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


hammedan  court,  is  a court  of  religious  law. 
None,  therefore,  but  reputedly  religious  per- 
sons can  be  allowed  to  testify;  and  as  all 
Christians,  Jews  and  Pagans  are  classed  as 
infidels,  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  offer 
testimony.  And  such  is  the  case  in  Tur- 
key. Firman  after  firman  lias  guaranteed 
to  the  Christians  the  right  of  testifying  in 
the  courts,  but  the  right  is  still  withheld. 
The  most  respectable  Christian  in  Beirut 
may  enter  a court  and  give  evidence,  hut 
it  will  be  recorded  that  “ Klrowaja  So-and- 
so  made  a statement  as  follows.’  But  if  the 
lowest  and  most  worthless  Moslem  donkey- 
driver  is  brought  into  court  and  gives  evi- 
dence on  the  other  side,  it  will  be  recorded 
that  “ His  lordship  the  Say y id  Ali  testified 
to  the  face  of  God,”  etc.  Consequently, 
whoever  has  a case  in  court  must  take  good 
heed  to  provide  himself  with  Mohammedan 
witnesses,  or  he  will  have  no  hope  of  success. 

The  firmans  of  the  past  must  be  executed 
in  fact  before  there  will  be  the  first  elements 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


123 


of  true  equality  in  Turkey.  To  insist  upon 
this  will  be  the  most  important  and,  I be- 
lieve, the  cheerfully -performed,  duty  of  those 
who  represent  Great  Britain  in  carrying  ont 
the  new  Anglo-Turkish  treaty. 

In  intimate  connection  with  this  stands 
the  question  of  a -pure  judiciary.  Often, 
when  hearing  of  the  high,  unsullied  repu- 
tation of  British  judges  in  India — a repu- 
tation echoed  and  proclaimed  by  Moslems 
and  Hindoos  wherever  they  go — I have 
longed  and  prayed  for  some  divine  inter- 
position which  would  give  a British  judiciary 
to  the  long-wronged  and  despoiled  people 
of  Turkey.  And  not  unfrequently  have  I 
heard  Mohammedans  in  Syria  give  utterance 
to  the  same  longing  with  the  greatest  earn- 
estness. I have  known  important  cases  tried 
in  the  enlightened  city  of  Beirut  before  a 
judge  who  could  neither  read  nor  write 
his  own  language,  the  Turkish,  and  who,  al- 
though the  trials  were  conducted  in  Arabic, 
could  neither  speak  nor  write  Arabic.  The 


124 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


venality  of  the  kadis  or  judges  is  well  illus- 
trated in  the  popular  story  constantly  told 
by  the  Arabs  of  Syria  in  their  coffee-houses 
and  their  homes.  It  is  as  follows : The 
sheikh  Omar  had  a case  in  court  against  his 
neighbor  Mohammed.  He  visited  the  kadi 
and  placed  a small  coin  in  his  hand,  when 
the  kadi  assured  him  that  on  the  trial  the 
following  day  the  case  should  be  decided  in 
his  favor.  Meantime,  Mohammed,  hearing 
of  Omar’s  success,  went  to  the  kadi’s  house 
at  night  bearing  thirty  gold  dinars,  each 
having  on  it  the  image  of  an  old  man 
leaning  on  a staff.  The  porter  at  the  door 
refused  Mohammed  admittance  until  he  had 
given  him  one  of  the  golden  coins.  He 
then  ushered  him  into  the  presence  of  the 
kadi,  to  whom  he  gave  the  twenty-nine 
pieces.  The  kadi  at  once  assured  him  that 
he  had  not  understood  the  case  before,  and 
the  decision  should  now  be  in  his  favor. 
Omar  was  astounded  the  next  day  in  seeing 
his  opponent  victorious,  and  asked  the  kadi 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


125 


for  tlie  reason.  Said  the  kadi,  “ The  reason 
is  this : new  evidence  has  appeared.  Last 
night  after  dark  twenty-nine  venerable  old 
men,  each  leaning  on  the  top  of  a staff,  came 
to  my  house  and  testified  to  the  validity  of 
Mohammed’s  claim.” — “Yes,”  added  the 
porter,  “ and  one  of  them  was  too  old  and 
infirm  to  ascend  the  stairway,  so  he  remained 
with  me  at  the  door.” 

This  story  illustrates  the  popular  idea  of 
the  character  of  their  judges;  and  it  is, 
alas ! too  true. 

The  salaries  of  the  highest  judges  are  con- 
temptibly small,  and,  as  they  are  obliged  to 
live  respectably,  they  supplement  their  sala- 
ries by  selling  justice  to  the  highest  bidder. 

A thorough  reorganization  of  the  judici- 
ary, with  courts  of  appeal  in  the  hands  of 
British  judges,  would  be  a blessing  of  un- 
speakable value  to  millions  in  Turkey.  Let 
us  pray  that  so  great  a blessing  may  not  be 
withheld  when  it  is  in  the  power  of  Britain 
so  easily  to  bestow  it. 


126 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


VII.  The  last  benefit  we  shall  mention  as 
resulting  from  the  new  state  of  things  is  the 
virtual  and,  we  trust,  final  abandonment  of 
the  policy  of  non-intervention.  When  the 
European  powers  in  1856  bound  themselves 
in  solemn  treaty  not  to  interfere  in  the  do- 
mestic concerns  of  the  Turkish  empire,  they 
entailed  upon  the  people  of  Turkey  a regime 
of  suffering  which  none  could  desire  to  be 
restored  or  perpetuated.  It  is  not  necessary 
for  me,  nor  would  it  be  becoming,  to  impugn 
the  motives  of  those  who  made  that  agree- 
ment. It  has  passed  into  history.  But  it 
is  a comfort  and  a cause  of  gratitude  to 
think  that  the  woes,  the  massacres  and  the 
disorders  suffered  to  go  on  in  that  empire 
under  the  non-intervention  policy  will  not 
now  be  likely  ever  to  occur  again. 

In  the  year  I860,  during  the  civil  war 
of  Lebanon,  when  the  Druses  and  Turkish 
soldiers  fraternized  with  the  Moslem  popu- 
lace in  the  plan  of  massacring  and  exter- 
minating the  Christian  and  foreign  popula- 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


127 


tion  of  Syria,  news  reached  us  in  Beirut 
that  about  eight  hundred  Greek,  Maronite 
and  Protestant  Christians,  disarmed  and 
confined  in  the  castle  of  Hasbeiya,  were 
surrounded  by  a Druse  army  who  stood 
ready  to  massacre  them  in  cold  blood,  while 
the  Turkish  colonel  sat  at  the  gate  waiting 
to  give  them  the  signal  to  enter  on  the 
work  of  destruction.  Dr.  Eddy  and  Dr. 
Bliss  of  the  American  mission  went  to  the 
British  consul-general,  and  asked  him  to 
furnish  them  with  an  armed  kawass  or 
janissary  from  the  British  consulate  to  go 
with  them  to  the  rescue  of  the  beleaguer- 
ed Christians.  A kawass  of  the  American 
consulate  would  have  been  of  no  use,  and, 
owing  to  the  state  of  the  country,  it  would 
have  been  certain  death  to  them  to  have 
gone  an  hour’s  ride  from  the  city  alone. 
But  a kawass  from  the  British  consulate 
would  have  given  ample  protection  any- 
where, and  both  Druse  and  Moslem  would 
have  respected  the  presence  of  two  such 


128 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


men  accompanied  with  the  representative 
of  the  British  consulate. 

They  appealed  to  the  consul  as  the  only 
person  in  Syria  who  could  have  aided  them 
in  saving;  seven  hundred  men  from  massacre. 
But  he  felt  obliged  to  decline  their  request. 
He  said  he  sympathized  with  the  poor  men 
exposed  to  danger  and  death,  “ but  he  ivcis 
officially  forbidden  to  interfere  in  the  do- 
mestic affairs  of  the  Turkish  empire?  He 
had  no  option  in  the  matter,  and,  bound 
by  the  principle  of  non-intervention,  felt 
obliged  to  leave  the  poor  wretches  to  their 
fate. 

A few  days  after  a crowd  of  men  came 
running  to  the  door  of  my  house  in  Beirut. 
They  were  leading  along  a shocking-looking 
specimen  of  humanity,  covered  with  matted 
clots  of  blood  from  head  to  foot.  It  was 
Jebran  Hoslab,  one  of  the  few  survivors 
of  the  dreadful  massacre  of  Hasbeiya.  He 
said  that  on  a signal  from  the  Turkish 
colonel  the  Druses  rushed  into  the  castle- 


MISSION  A B Y PB  OB  LEM. 


129 


gate  and  fell  like  wolves  upon  tlie  unarm- 
ed Christians.  Laying  aside  their  guns  to 
save  their  ammunition,  they  hewed  their 
victims  in  pieces  with  their  swords  and 
battle-axes,  striking  down  Abu  Monsoor, 
the  Protestant  deacon,  while  in  the  act  of 
praying  for  his  murderers.  Jebran  escaped 
by  throwing  himself  down  and  covering 
himself  with  dead  bodies,  and  at  midnight 
let  himself  down  from  a window  in  the 
castle-wall,  and  escaped  across  the  moun- 
tains to  Tyre,  whence  he  came  to  Beirut 
in  an  Arab  schooner. 

That  was  the  working  of  the  principle 
of  non-intervention.  A more  humane  and 
noble  - hearted  body  of  men  could  hardly 
be  found  than  the  British  consuls  in  Tur- 
key as  a class,  but  how  often  the  inflexible 
principle  of  non-intervention  has  compelled 
them  to  refrain  from  doing  what  their  own 
humane  instincts  would  have  prompted  them 
to  do,  none  could  speak  more  eloquently  than 
themselves. 


130 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Now,  thanks  be  to  Him  who  maketh  even 
the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him,  if  I inter- 
pret aright  the  new  policy  of  the  British 
government,  that  feature  at  least  of  non- 
intervention  is  for  ever  at  an  end.  There 
will  be  no  more  Syrian  massacres,  no  more 
holocausts  of  human  victims  in  Hasbeiya, 
Heir  el  Komr  and  Damascus.  Humanity 
and  policy  will  now  concur,  in  the  good 
providence  of  God,  under  the  benign  sway 
of  a Christian  queen,  in  restraining  that 
“ remainder  of  wrath  ” which  has  so  often 
burst  forth  like  a pent-up  volcano. 

These  and  many  other  incidental  benefits, 
which  time  will  not  allow  us  to  mention, 
will  no  doubt  flow  from  the  new  order  of 
things  now  being  inaugurated  in  the  East. 

Well  does  it  become  us  to  inquire  in  con- 
clusion,  What  are  the  moral  and  religious 
obligations  arising  from  this  state  of  things 
which  rest  upon  the  Christians  of  Great 
Britain  and  America? 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


131 


A great  work  has  been  initiated  by  the 
missionaries,  American  and  British,  already 
on  the  ground.  It  will  be  the  duty  of  the 
American  churches  to  increase  the  number 
of  their  missionaries,  to  supply  their  colleges 
and  seminaries  with  an  able,  experienced 
and  devoted  corps  of  instructors ; to  push 
forward  the  work  of  missionary  itineracy ; 
to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  press  and 
the  extent  of  Bible  distribution  ; to  train  a 
native  ministry ; and  in  every  way  to  meet 
the  invitations  of  Divine  Providence,  and 
enter  the  “ wide  and  effectual  doors  ” which 
are  opening  on  every  side,  even  though  there 
lie  “ many  adversaries.” 

It  is  not  an  easy  task  for  me  to  suggest 
what  are  the  duties  of  our  British  brethren 
and  sisters  in  a crisis  like  the  present  in  the 
East.  Would  that  my  feeble  voice  could 
be  heard  among  all  those  who  love  our 
Lord  in  sincerity,  calling  upon  them  to 
pray  earnestly  for  the  salvation  of  the 
perishing  in  that  interesting  land ! See 


132 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


to  it,  Christian  men  and  women,  that  the 
present  guarantees  of  religious  liberty  be 
carried  out  in  very  deed — that  converts  to 
Christianity  from  every  sect  and  nationality 
in  that  empire  be  assured  of  protection  and 
liberty  to  read  and  practice  the  word  of 
Cfod.  Give  a cheerful  support  to  your  own 
brethren  and  sisters  who  are  engaged  in 
various  parts  of  that  empire  in  preaching 
the  gospel  and  educating  the  young. 

You  would  have  rejoiced  to  see  a sight 
■which  greeted  my  eyes  on  the  11th  of  last 
April,  when  I met  on  the  premises  of  an 
English  lady  in  Beirut  a company  of  Arab 
o- his  assembled  to  bid  me  farewell  on  my 
departure  for  America.  Fifteen  hundred 
Arab  girls,  from  the  ages  of  six  to  sixteen, 
stood  around  me,  three  hundred  of  them 
Mohammedan  girls.  One  after  another  the 
different  schools  sang  hymns  of  praise  to 
Christ,  and  at  the  close  of  a brief  address 
to  them  in  Arabic  we  united  together  in 
prayer.  Just  before  that  I had  received  a 


MISSIONARY  PE  OB  LEM. 


133 


farewell  letter  signed  by  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five  Arab  Sunday-school  children, 
bidding  me  an  affectionate  farewell.  Shall 
not  these  Christian  laborers  and  enterprises 
be  sustained  ? 

In  the  new  growth  of  the  missionary  and 
educational  work  in  the  East  new  endow- 
ments, new  scholarships  and  new  buildings 
will  be  needed.  If  the  demand  for  schools 
and  books  has  been  great  and  increasing 
under  the  old  regime,  what  may  we  not 
anticipate  under  the  new  ? The  demand 
for  the  English  language  and  an  English 
education,  already  great,  will  become  great- 
er year  by  year.  Heretofore  British  Chris- 
tians have  wisely  preferred  to  aid  the  exist- 
ing American  missions  in  the  Turkish  em- 
pire, instead  of  complicating  the  work  by 
establishing  separate  missions  of  their  own. 
We  rejoice  in  this  proof  of  fraternal  con- 
fidence and  Christian  love.  Let  us  work  on 
thus  together.  Let  the  two  great  branches 
of  the  christianized  Anglo-Saxon  race  go 


134 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Land  in  Land  to  the  great  work  assigned 
us  in  tLe  evangelization  of  the  Mohamme- 
dau  world.  Let  us  go  on  in  tLe  Spirit  of 
our  Lord  and  Master,  wLicL  is  tLe  Spirit 
of  love. 

We  Lave  thus  sketclied  in  rapid  outline 
tlie  salient  points  in  tlie  relations  of  Islam 
to  Christianity.  God  Las  been  preparing 
Christianity  for  Islam,  and  now  lie  is  pre- 
paring Islam  for  Christianity.  Tlie  prob- 
lem now  demanding  the  attention  of  the 
Christian  Church  and  the  Christian  min- 
istry everywhere  is,  How  to  give  greater 
efficiency  to  missionary  agencies  already 
employed  in  Mohammedan  countries,  and 
Low  to  bring  new  forces  and  appliances  to 
bear  upon  Islam. 

TLe  Christian  Church  cannot  regard  with 
indifference  the  welfare  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  millions  ol  our  race.  Hie  moial 
degradation,  the  spiritual  blindness,  the  deep 
religious  needs  ol  so  many  men,  the  pitiful 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


135 


condition  of  Moslem  women,  the  want  of  all 
that  we  hold  dear  and  sacred  in  the  Chris- 
tian home,  and  the  utter  lack  of  anything 
like  a provision  for  human  redemption, — 
should  awaken  our  deepest  sympathies  and 
enkindle  new  zeal  in  every  Christian  breast. 

We  have  only  begun  to  work  for  the  Mo- 
hammedan world.  The  prospect  is  cheering. 
God’s  word  is  ready ; the  promises  of  Christ 
are  ours ; God  is  overturning  among  the 
nations,  and  every  turn  in  the  wheel  of 
providence  moves  the  nations  forward,  while 
Mohammedan  prestige  and  power  sink  rap- 
idly out  of  sight.  In  the  Russian  war  the 
greatest  enemy  of  the  Moslems  inflicted  one 
crushing  defeat  on  the  political  power  of 
Islam,  and  in  the  Afghan  war  England, 
the  greatest  friend  of  Islam,  has  inflicted 
another.  Christian  missions  are  planted  in 
and  around  the  very  citadels  of  Islam. 
Converted  Moslems  in  India  are  ordained 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  Thousands  of 
Moslems  in  Turkey  have  purchased  the 


136 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN 


Christian  Scriptures.  Church  - bells  from 
Christian  edifices  are  echoing  the  very 
muezzin-cries  from  the  minarets  of  towns 
and  cities.  Mohammedan  pashas  are  send- 
ing their  sons  to  Christian  schools  and  col- 
leo-es,  and  hundreds  of  Mohammedan  ghB 
are  being  educated  by  Christian  teachers  in 
the  pure  morality  and  the  inspiring  hopes 
of  the  gospel.  One  thousand  Mohammedan 
girls  to-day  are  receiving  instruction  m 
Christian  schools  in  Syria  alone. 

In  conclusion,  I know  of  no  bettei  sum- 
mary of  the  crowning,  imperative  want  of 
the  Mohammedan  world,  and  of  all  the 
missionaries  who  are  engaged  in  laboring 
for  its  conversion  to  Christ,  than  that  con- 
tained in  the  terse  expression  of  my  own 
beloved  instructor  in  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  the  now  sainted  Henry  B.  Smith, 
contained  in  the  synopsis  of  Ins  System  of 
Christian  Theology— the  belief  in  “an  in- 
carnation in  order  to  a redemption.”  This 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 


137 


is  the  great  truth  which  Mohammed  utterly 
failed  to  grasp,  and  which  his  followers  for 
twelve  centuries  have  been  groping  after 
in  vain. 

Let  every  Christian  missionary  insist  upon 
the  great  scheme  of  redemption,  the  atoning 
sufferings  and  death  of  Jesus  the  son  of 
Mary ; and  when  the  Mohammedan  feels, 
as  many  have  already  felt,  that  he  is  a lost 
sinner  and  under  the  righteous  displeasure 
of  an  offended  God,  he  will  gladly  and 
gratefully  take  refuge  in  the  conviction 
and  the  faith  that  man  needs  a Saviour 
from  sin,  and  that  Jesus  the  son  of  Mary 
in  order  to  be  a Saviour  must  also  be  the 
Son  of  God. 

A famous  Bedawiu  sheikh  from  the  land 
of  Bashan  once  visited  Beirut,  and  asked 
permission  to  see  the  American  steam 
printing-press.  I took  him  through  the 
various  parts  of  the  building  and  showed 
him  the  processes  of  type-casting,  type- 
setting, electrotyping,  lithographing  and 


138  MOHAMMEDAN  MISSIONARY  PROBLEM. 

bookbinding;  and  at  length  we  entered  the 
press-room.  He  stood  with  his  Bedawin 
companions  gazing  in  mute  wonder  at  the 
steam-press  with  revolving  cylinder  rolling 
out  the  printed  sheets  with  the  greatest  ra- 
pidity and  precision.  He  stood  in  silence 
for  a time,  and  at  length  turned  to  me  and 
said,  “ Khowadja,  you  Franks  have  con- 
quered everything  but  death.  In  that  re- 
spect you  and  the  Bedawin  stand  on  a 
level,  for  death  conquers  us  all.”  I re- 
plied, “Yes,  we  are  conquered  by  death, 
but  there  is  One  who  has  conquered  death 
for  you  and  for  me — our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.” 

My  brethren,  that  is  the  gospel  which 
all  men  need.  That  gospel  ot  salvation 
through  Christ  let  us  preach  at  home  and 
abroad,  until  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
are  become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and 
he  shall  reign  for  ever ! 


THE  END. 


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